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Imperial College London

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Mathematics freshmen

Have we been told which textbooks we'll need throughout the first term, or the first year?

Have you guys been doing any studying to refresh your memory of the A level material?

How much is each year weighted in terms of the final degree classification?

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Reply 1

member312105

I haven't been told what textbooks we'll need. :smile:

I signed up for the online maths course, but obviously most people will just be working through exercises in the textbooks.

I believe the degree is weighted 1/4/4, I read that somewhere. Party party party :woo:

for the the first year then :p:

Imperial College London

London

Reply 2

gammapulsar

jennikay

I haven't been told what textbooks we'll need. :smile:

for the the first year then :p:

I like the way you think.. .xD

What online maths course? :O shareee!

I guess Spivak and Apostol will be a absolute must.

Reply 3

member312105

gammapulsar

I like the way you think.. .xD

What online maths course? :O shareee!

I guess Spivak and Apostol will be a absolute must.

The one that cost £100 :p:

probably not worth it, but my parents paid for it so :woo:

I think with most degrees the first year is worth less as you're getting up to speed - and partying :woo:

At Hull uni the first year doesn't count towards your degree at all :p:

Reply 4

pangea

Quite a lot of unis, the first year doesnt count... :O

Ive just been reading my textbooks; I'm slightly nervous about mechanics, as I havent done any for over a year (did M1,2,3 in L6 year and S1,2 in U6). Also, I did the speciment test that's on the website for the diagnostic test.

There are a few books mentioned in the pdf letter on the maths homepage, plus the same books are mentioned in some of the course notes that are on the imperial site :smile:

Yessss....I am a total geek who looks at those kinds of things...

Reply 5

studyboy

gammapulsar

I like the way you think.. .xD

What online maths course? :O shareee!

I guess Spivak and Apostol will be a absolute must.

Normally the party ends come January when everyone got their Jan test results. :wink:

Reply 6

firegalley246

If you can get a copy of Liebeck's book (Concise Introduction to Pure Mathematics), then that will be useful for the M1F course durinig the first term (and it also has a little on permutations relating to the M1P1 in the spring term). 2nd hand might be best since it's a £20+ book that you'll have outgrown by the end of the first year.

Also, any general mathematical methods book will be useful for M1M1 and M1M2.

But don't party too hard during year 1 if you're on the MSci coding!

Reply 7

gangsta316

firegalley246

I'm not on the MSci coding, but may I ask why you gave that piece of advice?

Reply 8

firegalley246

I'm not on the MSci coding, but may I ask why you gave that piece of advice?

You need to sustain at least a 2:1 during the first and second years otherwise you get dropped back onto the BSc coding.

Reply 9

mvil42

jennikay

The one that cost £100 :p:

probably not worth it, but my parents paid for it so :woo:

May I inquiry what the contents of that course were depth wise?

I was considering it, but settled to lend some UK futher maths books to 'revise' only to see that half of it was not covered by my country's noob curriculum. Summer, there :P

Other than that I only did few step questions mainly to boost my self esteem and tried to keep my brain somewhat active.

The Maths August letter said we needn't to buy textbooks for the course beforehand, I think..

Reply 10

member312105

mvil42

May I inquiry what the contents of that course were depth wise?

Depth wise?

I dunno, it's got the literature which you read, then activites to do
(plus step-by-step workings) and then two tests. This is for each section, and there's about 15 sections in the first part, and probably similar in the second.

There's an individual assignment to do, and a group assignment :yep:

Not certain if it's worth £100, but my dad paid for it so meh :p:

Reply 11

mvil42

I mean if it has more in stuff than the standard uk futher maths curriculum. More in depth, more topics, more difficulty or such.

If not, I guess paying for it would have been a good disciplinary action for me though :rolleyes:

Reply 12

member312105

As far as I can work out it's just Maths and Further Maths.
All I need :yep:

Ok thanks

The only textbooks you need is the Liebeck one, and because I had only done AS-further I bought Gaulter and Gaulter "Further Pure Mathematics". Trust me, you don't need anything else. Even those two aren't essential by any stretch.
It'll be a good thing to catch up on some of the A-Level stuff though, because they'll skim over most of it in the 1st term.

As for being worried about Mechanics, don't be ! Its nothing like A-Level mechanics, but the exams are somewhat predictable. The course content however can be a bit tricky, and the problem sheets and coursework challenging. But nothing crazily hard. You will all be fine.

Reply 15

gangsta316

3000 Ice Man

You mean A Concise Introduction to Pure Mathematics by Liebeck? Isn't that a kind of introductory/bridging book though?

Also, how much do I need to know about conic sections? It's on the checklist but I've never come across any of it and it was too hard to learn it myself from the old (much more difficult questions) book I had. It's also not in any of the 4 FP modules for AQA.

Reply 16

wudanao

Has anyone got the timetable yet?

Reply 17

Ice Man 3000

gangsta316

Yea, everyone will have the Concise Intro to Pure Maths book by Liebeck. All 1st term courses are generally an all round introduction to uni maths. M1F, which is a first term course just follows the Liebeck book quite closely, so its a useful companion to have as the lecturer might glaze over some details which can be found in more depth in Liebecks book. The M1F course despite being called an Intro to Analysis, only has a tiny bit of analysis in it, taught near the end of the course, otherwise it follows the book.
The course just introduces students to the theorem proof structure of most pure maths courses, and the content is quite interesting.

I think in the introductory test, you won't need to know about conic sections, but in M1GLA (Geometry and Linear Algebra) in the first term, it will come up. But you are not expected to have any prior knowledge by the lecturer, and he'll cover it in depth, so don't worry about it.

I also take part in some of the self help sessions, helping out first years with any questions they may have with the courses, so might be seeing some of you there.

Reply 18

gangsta316

So what kind of supplies do we need? Is it just the usual -- pencils, pens, paper, folders?

And where can I buy that Liebeck book cheaply? Will it really be all I need for the entire first year?

Reply 19

firegalley246

I know they haven't got the official timetable posted on the department website yet, but it looks like this is a good indication of the first year timetable. Treat it as provisional until Chris Sissons emails everyone though.

Central Library and the Maths Lilbrary combined have about 30 copies in total (last time I checked) so if you're quick you might be able to grab one when you arrive, before everyone else. But saying that, you might be lucky and get a used copy cheaply from a 2nd/3rd/4th year student, and even then I don't think it disadvantages you in any way if you don't have Liebeck's book. It's only useful for one course out of the eight you'll be taking in year 1.

And the union shop has all the pens, paper and folders you need. Even if you do go through pens at an alarming rate...

PS. If that timetable is correct, then I feel for the freshers who are going to have Mestel 5-6pm on Mondays.

EDIT: Proper timetables are up: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/mathematics/students/timetables/autumn2009