[lawrywild]

Ok.. so since I have a job and don't have much spare time I need to start thinking about this test..

My Civil Engineering pack says the following topics 'may' be included in the test:

trigonometric relations
binomial theorem
differentiation
integration
elementary statistics (what??)
complex numbers (what??)
vectors

Since I have already handed my textbooks back to school and thrown away my exercise books, anyone know good places to revise these topics (other than wikipedia because it's not great for maths stuff).

[Candescence]

Did the pack not recommend some exercises to do online? My Physics pack says to go and do some sections of METRIC on the imperial website.

Search for Imperial Blackboard and login with your regular username/password for Imperial stuff.

[lawrywild]

Yeh it has a page about metric but it doesn't say it's to do with the test. Just says it can help prepare you for the first year.

[Candescence]

Originally Posted by lawrywild

Yeh it has a page about metric but it doesn't say it's to do with the test. Just says it can help prepare you for the first year.

Ah, the Physics one just says that "If you can do the METRIC exercises the test should be no problem and you should expect very high marks"

[lawrywild]

Interesting, our tests could be different though..

Still, I really do need somewhere to re-cap over A2 Maths stuff. Only did normal Maths and didn't get taught C4 integration properly anyway :s

[Candescence]

Probably.

The Imperial blackboard covers all of the topics you'll need to know i suspect. It isn't just exercises, it has all the material you need to learn, methods etc.

[EndangeredSpecies]

Complex numbers are to do with quadratic eqautions. Its when you have to find the sqaure root of a minus number (within the qaudratic), so you convert the minus number into J form (which is equal to -1).

Then you can have addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of complex numbers.

I hate to say it but you were an idiot for throwing your books away.

[lawrywild]

Not really, they didn't have notes or anything in..

edit: actually I think I might have kept them anyway, but that's besides the point, they're useless without a textbook to go with

[Henerz]

Anyone got Metric to work? My Mech Eng welcome pack says to go to http://metric.ma.ic.ac.uk/.

However, it gets stuck at "Attempting to launch the metric application." Perhaps it's Vista's or Firefox's security...but it doesn't work in IE either.

Also, the different engineering diclplines seem to have different tests. My Mech Eng topic list is here and it's described as "Applied Mathematics" - there's no imaginary pure stuff! I suspect its really intended to seperate those who did Mechanics A-level modules from those who took statistics.

EDIT: For metric, I have downloaded and installed the Java it recommends on their throughly useless help page!

[charith_a]

Originally Posted by lawrywild

Not really, they didn't have notes or anything in..

edit: actually I think I might have kept them anyway, but that's besides the point, they're useless without a textbook to go with

How about a visit to your local library? Surely you'll find copies of the textbooks there.

[lawrywild]

Mine said go to http://learn.imperial.ac.uk which redirects to the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (formerly WebCT). It seems to work at times and not at others, it really is quite annoying..

[lawrywild]

Originally Posted by charith_a

How about a visit to your local library? Surely you'll find copies of the textbooks there.

Last time I went there it was closed for refurbishment but it was quite a while ago.. can't remember how long. Good idea though, might have a look. Probably be better if I got other textbooks as the edexcel heinemann one's hardly explained anything..

[wizz_kid]

Originally Posted by lawrywild

complex numbers (what??)
vectors

Complex numbers is basically FP1 stuff and vector, C4 (ocr).

[ergie]

http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/go/metric

It seems a bit different from that available trough blackboard but at least it always works.

[charith_a]

Originally Posted by lawrywild

Last time I went there it was closed for refurbishment but it was quite a while ago.. can't remember how long. Good idea though, might have a look. Probably be better if I got other textbooks as the edexcel heinemann one's hardly explained anything..

Bostock & Chandler Pure Math 1 & 2 are the ones I'm using (kept it after AL's), but the EEE dept. recommended the following.
Stroud, K.A.: Engineering Mathematics, Macmillan, 5th edition, pp. 419-474
James, Glyn: Modern Engineering Mathematics, Prentice-Hall, 3rd edition, pp. 158-194
Haven't been able to source them yet.

[Modulus]

People using FireFox clear your temporary internet files (ctrl+shift+delete, NOT ALT) and then try again. That seemed to fix BlackBoard for me.

[Pulkpull]

Originally Posted by Candescence

Did the pack not recommend some exercises to do online? My Physics pack says to go and do some sections of METRIC on the imperial website.

Search for Imperial Blackboard and login with your regular username/password for Imperial stuff.

I haven't got my freshers pack yet (for physics). Would you mind telling me which sections it recommends?

[mpppp]

I had the civ eng welcome pack...Metric seems fine because they give you an explanation followed by questions. Complex numbers comes under further pure, not sure what they mean by elementary statistics, i don't remember s1 or s2. I sold most of my maths books so I'm a bit stuck too!!

[Candescence]

Originally Posted by Pulkpull

I haven't got my freshers pack yet (for physics). Would you mind telling me which sections it recommends?

webct.imperial.ac.uk

Algebra:
Section 1 (Quadratics)
Section 2 (Rational Expressions)

Combinatorics:
Section 1(Permutations and Combinations)
Section 2 (Binomial Theory)

Coordinate Geometry:
Section 1 (Straight Lines)

Differentiation:
Section 1 (Principles)
Section 2 (Techniques)

Functions and Graphs:
Section 1 (Functions in General)
Section 3 (Exponential Functions)

Numbers and Arithmetic:
Section 1 (Numbers and Arithmetic)
Section 2 (Relations)

Trigonometry
Section 1 (Functions)
Section 2 (Identities)

I wouldn't worry though, it says they should only take a few hours.

[Pulkpull]

Originally Posted by Candescence

webct.imperial.ac.uk

I wouldn't worry though, it says they should only take a few hours.

Thanks! I was worrying 'cause there was quite a lot of stuff on convergence of series I hadn't done before but they don't expect us to know that