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Maths at uni :S

Right today at school I was just having a bit of panic and wondering if maths was right for me :/ I love it SO much I've wanted to do it since I was in middle school, I love the normal core maths modules at a-level(c1, c2, c3, c4) kinda like stats (s1) and love mechanics (m1) I also really enjoyed decision maths (d1) and they all click with me and I'm really strong at them I also love fp1 that's clicked with me apart from I'm confused over a few things but I can sort that... However... fp4 is a different story I really like the matrices stuff, determinants and some of the vector stuff... but I'm struggling a bit with it and I'm no where near as strong as it as I am with the other modules. I guess part of it is due to the fact that our teacher is crap ¬¬ but also it's completely different to all of the other modules. I did the normal maths a-level a year early so I've been doing it for ages and have got used to the topics and the way it's structured but fp4 is completly different it's random new topics! I also know that the maths uni course is very similar to the further maths a-level, and I'm wondering that although I'm really good at the normal maths a-level I don't know if I'll be able to do the uni course.
Other questions:
-Is fp4 similar to fp2 and fp3
-Is the uni course similar to fp4
Reply 1
Avatar for davros
davros
16
Which board are you on and what topics are you struggling with? You can't really say that uni maths is "like" a particular module - it's a different approach altogether. The pure bits are all about proof, and the "applied" elements can seem more like A level pure!
Reply 2
Avatar for SmileyGurl13
SmileyGurl13
OP
10
davros
Which board are you on and what topics are you struggling with? You can't really say that uni maths is "like" a particular module - it's a different approach altogether. The pure bits are all about proof, and the "applied" elements can seem more like A level pure!


Aqa and I'm struggling with fp4 the topics I'm specifically finding difficult is vectors I kinda get 'em :/ just not as well as I want. In C4 vectors is the hardest part for me. I get matrices, inverse matrices and determinants a lot and I get most of the vectors it's just I don't really understand the point of the scalar/dot product and the cross/vector product :s-smilie: could you explain that please? like what is it used for, because if I can get an idea of what they are then i'll understand it better. I'm also struggling a bit with equations of lines/planes but I think I'll get them after a bit.
Reply 3
Avatar for majikthise
majikthise
SmileyGurl13
Aqa and I'm struggling with fp4 the topics I'm specifically finding difficult is vectors I kinda get 'em :/ just not as well as I want. In C4 vectors is the hardest part for me. I get matrices, inverse matrices and determinants a lot and I get most of the vectors it's just I don't really understand the point of the scalar/dot product and the cross/vector product :s-smilie: could you explain that please? like what is it used for, because if I can get an idea of what they are then i'll understand it better. I'm also struggling a bit with equations of lines/planes but I think I'll get them after a bit.

The dot product a.b is essentially a number which gives you information about to what extent a and b point in the same direction. If it's zero they are perpendicular (i.e. point as far away from each other as possible), and vice versa. The formula a.b=∣a∣∣b∣cos(θ)a.b=|a||b|cos(\theta) also lets you calculate how much vector a "projects" onto vector b. i.e.



The cross product simply takes two vectors and gives you back a vector perpendicular to the plane formed by a and b.

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