When a number is to be multiplied by itself, a power or index can be used to write this compactly. In this leaflet, we remind you of how this is done, and state a number of rules, or laws, which can be used to simplify expressions involving indices.

This leaflet explains how to calculate the modulus and argument of a complex number. There are accompanying videos. Sigma resource Unit 9.

This mobile phone video explains how to calculate the modulus and argument of a complex number. Sigma resource Unit 9. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by mathcentre.

This video explains what is meant by the polar form of a complex number. Sigma resource Unit 10. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by mathcentre.

Nicole Scherger (2013). The redesign of a quantitative literacy class: student responses to a lab based format, Teaching Mathematics and its Applications 2013 32(4), 206-213 doi: 10.1093/teamat/hrt003. The purpose of this study was to observe students’ retention, success and attitudes towards mathematics in a community college quantitative literacy course, taught in a lab-based format. The redesigned course implemented the daily use of Microsoft Excel in the classroom demonstrations, group activities and individual assignments, and utilized data from many fields of study. Results showed statistically significant growth in attitudes towards real-world application problems, the use of computers in mathematics, and the consideration of taking additional mathematics courses. There was also marginally significant growth in students’ attitudes towards the relevance and utility of mathematics. Higher retention and success rates in the redesigned course were also observed, although those rates were not found to be statistically significant.

This leaflet states the sine and cosine rules and gives examples of their use. (Engineering Maths First Aid Kit 4.6)

This leaflet defines sine, cosine and tangent of angles in a right-angled triangle and gives some standard ratios. (Engineering Maths First Aid Kit 4.2)

The past decade or so has seen a huge growth in the number of mathematics support centres within UK higher education institutions as they come to terms with an increasing volume of students who are poorly prepared for the mathematical demands of their chosen courses. In other parts of the world we observe similar developments. In the early years many centres were short-lived enterprises staffed either by concerned volunteers who found a few hours in the week to offer additional support, or alternatively by part-time staff on short-term contracts. More recently, we have observed a trend to more substantial support centres many of which attract central funding and dedicated staff. Given this trend there is a need to ask whether our efforts are worthwhile, how we might know this, and whether we can justify ongoing funding. This talk by TONY CROFT from Loughborough University at the 3rd Irish Workshop on Mathematics Learning Support Centres, 2008, NUI Maynooth will describe some of the challenges associated with acquiring data on effectiveness. Various ways in which we can measure our success will be explored. Finally, several exemplars will be provided of work being undertaken to capture the sort of evidence required to secure continued funding of mathematics support centres.

Cheryl Voake, Lisa Taylor and Rob Wilson. (2013) Transition difficulties from FE to HE - What is the situation and what can we do about it? MSOR Connections, Volume 13, Issue 2: 6-14. DOI: 10.11120/msor.2013.00014 A common complaint from staff in Higher Education (HE) is that students arrive from Further Education (FE) providers with a lack of awareness of what to expect at university. This is manifested by an unpreparedness and, in some cases, an unwillingness for autonomous learning and self-responsibility. This study was designed to assess student awareness and preparedness for HE, with a particular focus on Mathematics. This was achieved via FE student and teacher questionnaires and a focus group, which crucially allowed judgement between studentsâ?? perceived awareness and their actual awareness. The focus group also gave FE students an opportunity to quiz HE students on their experiences and opinions, and gave the HE students the opportunity to provide information they felt was missing from their own transition to university.

A common mathematical problem is to find the angles or lengths of the sides of a triangle when some, but not all, of these quantities are known. It is also useful to be able to calculate the area of a triangle from some of this information. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

In this unit we see how the three trigonometric ratios cosecant, secant and cotangent can appear in trigonometric identities and in the solution of trigonometric equations. Graphs of the functions are obtained from a knowledge of sine, cosine and tangent. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

Knowledge of the trigonometric ratios of sine, cosine and tangent is vital in very many fields of engineering, science and maths. This unit introduces them and provides examples of how they can be used to solve problems. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

The sine, cosine and tangent of an angle are all defined in terms of trigonometry, but they can also be expressed as functions. In this unit we examine these functions and their graphs. We also see how to restrict the domain of each function in order to define an inverse function.