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Maths beyond A Level without doing a degree

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wow OP, you seem more interested in maths than some of the people I know who are actually planning to take it as a degree :biggrin:
Look at thedescripton of modules in undergraduate mathematics courses, then explore what you would find interesting. That way you dont have a time limit on what you are looking at (unlike he undergraduate of those courses) and you will be able to go at your own pace.
Reply 22
Original post by vitamortis
Also, send me a PM with your email address and I will send you a PDF version of Stroud's excellent Engineering Mathematics and Advanced Engineering Mathematics textbooks.


Hi vitamortis,
I know this is a very old thread now but just wondering if there is any chance of hijacking your offer of sending the pdf versions of Strouds books out?
Any chance I could be cheeky and ask you to send them to me please?

Thanks.



This appears to be a great website, thanks for posting!!!
Original post by Raiden10
Shamika's suggestions would seem helpful. In principle there's no reason why you couldn't learn some university maths, in a self-taught way.

On the pure side:
(1) "Transition" from A-level to degree level: The number systems, N, Q, R and C, proof by induction
(2) Sets, functions and relations; the fundamentals of pure mathematics
(3) Sequences and series, followed by an introduction to real analysis
(4) An introduction to abstract algebra; groups, rings and fields (probably slightly focusing on groups), isomorphisms and homomorphisms (of groups rings and fields), isomorphisms and homomorphisms generally
(5) Linear algebra

Those aren't actual names of courses as such, rather a very brief description of courses that might, and do, exist.

But that would be the basics that you would cover in the first two years at a normal uni. Or in Fresher's week at Cambridge.



LOL at "Or in a freshers week at cambridge". I guess this is why they admit the very best!
Original post by TwilightKnight
I wasn't sure quite where to put this, since it didn't really belong in the A Level Maths forum.

I love Maths. I can sit around and work my way through problems all day long and just genuinely enjoy it - I've done all the A Level Maths I possibly can (Regular, Further and Additional, although additional isn't aggregated past AS since I missed an exam).

I enjoyed Pure the most, followed closely by Mechanics. Statistics could be interesting at S3/S4 level, but Decision was pretty nonsensical outside of topics like Game Theory.

The problem is, I didn't like the idea of the end result of having done a degree in Maths (usually the result is either go into Banking, Economics etc or Teaching - there are very few actual 'academic' positions AFAIK), so I chose a different field to do at undergraduate (along with other reasons).

I was wondering if there was anything I could do beyond A Level that would keep my interest in Maths alive; any books or websites etc to use and problems to do that sort of build on A Level maths and go from there - i.e, they introduce a topic and explain it and give you some problems to solve (I know the dynamic of Maths changes once you get to university in that it isn't particularly about "Here's X - integrate it") - I've done STEP papers in my spare time, but the reality is that they are firmly grounded in A Level Maths - the questions are just a lot more difficult.

I'm not looking to get any qualification in it, or to not focus on my degree and I'm not trying to pretend I would be doing it at / understanding it at the level of someone actually doing a Maths degree, but I would just like to make sure that I have the same passion for Maths in 10 years time, rather than just slowly forgetting it all because it isn't being used.

Thanks for reading. :smile:


This is another really good website-http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/
very concise notes and concepts are well explained with plenty of examples.

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