Mathematical Methods is a revision course for third year materials scientists. Started in 1997, there is no formal examination. It consists of six lectures, an examples class and a questions sheet, and provides revision of past topics, with examples relating to third year materials courses and a background for the fourth year. This case study reviews the course and its role in providing the student with a mathematical foundation in the context of materials science.

Mathematics and Statistics are essential to the university curricula of many disciplines. The purpose of the Higher Education Academy STEM project was to investigate the mathematical and statistical requirements in a range of discipline areas including: Business and Management, Chemistry, Economics, Geography, Sociology and Psychology. Reports were commissioned from discipline experts to provide a strong evidence base to inform developments within the disciplines and dialogue between the higher education and pre-university sectors. This report by Jeremy Hodgen, Mary McAlinden and Anthony Tomei summarises the findings of these project reports and of similar work in other disciplines. It introduces some high-level contextual evidence from the pre-university sector, in particular data about trends in public examinations, and highlights important policy developments in pre-university Mathematics education. The report also includes high level recommendations regarding Mathematics and Statistics within the context of other disciplines, with a particular focus on the point of transition into higher education. (2014)

This is a high resolution electronic copy of the Chemistry Facts & Formulae Leaflet. It is designed to be printed on A3 as a double-sided folded leaflet. Print quality is printer dependant. An onscreen version is available in mathcentre.

The Mathematics Summer School was run for the first time in September 2001, lasting one week immediately prior to the start of term. Many students admitted to courses in the School of Science and Technology are perceived to have major weaknesses in the type of fundamental algebra that underpins much of their analytical work, both in mathematics units per se and in other units. This development represents one strand of additional support given to such students; the fledgling Mathematics Support Unit can give such support as the course progresses. This initiative is not funded in any direct way and depends on the availability of already heavily committed staff.

An academic perspective

Matrices 1: This video tutorial explains what is meant by a matrix, explains the notation used to describe matrices, and introduces some special types of matrix. There is an accompanying help leaflet.

Matrices 11: This leaflet explains how to calculate the inverse of a 3x3 matrix. There is an accompanying video tutorial.

Matrices 11: This video tutorial explains how to calculate the inverse of a 3x3 matrix. There is an accompanying help leaflet.

In this unit we show how differentiation can be used to find the maximum and minimum values of a function. Because the derivative provides information about the gradient or slope of the graph of a function we can use it to locate points on a graph where the gradient is zero. We shall see that such points are often associated with the largest or smallest values of the function, at least in their immediate locality. In many applications, a scientist, engineer, or economist for example, will be interested in such points for obvious reasons such as maximising power, or profit, or minimising losses or costs. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) The video is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

This leaflet introduces gravitational force.

This video introduces complex numbers by explaining how it is useful to be able to formally write down the square root of a negative number. Sigma resource Unit 1. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by mathcentre.

This mobile phone download introduces complex numbers by explaining how it is useful to be able to formally write down the square root of a negative number. Sigma resource Unit 1. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by mathcentre.