Mathematics with Chemistry Degree

I don't know where to put this, so it's here.

I'm going to study Chemistry at university this year. What's concerning me is that as much as my Chemistry ability is there, my mathematics ability is slightly lacking. I don't do A Level Maths, so I haven't done integration and differentiation before, and this is a problem since they both frequently come up in the course as far as I can tell.

The real question is, would you recommend me teaching myself how to integrate and differentiate before/at university? I'm not sure whether they hold mathematics support sessions for people like me. I just don't want to be at a disadvantage due to the above problem.

Thoughts?

You could self teach some of the maths content which could help you?

They will teach you the mathematics that you need during the course, most commonly in the first year. You will not be the only student who does not have A-level maths. Some universities require A-level maths to gain entry then teach them more maths for the course.

I can do very basic integration and that's about it. I was bored and had 15 minutes spare...



My universities don't require A Level Maths, so maybe they will teach us. I just had the impression that I'd be expected to do it all by myself.

I don't know where to put this, so it's here.

I'm going to study Chemistry at university this year. What's concerning me is that as much as my Chemistry ability is there, my mathematics ability is slightly lacking. I don't do A Level Maths, so I haven't done integration and differentiation before, and this is a problem since they both frequently come up in the course as far as I can tell.

The real question is, would you recommend me teaching myself how to integrate and differentiate before/at university? I'm not sure whether they hold mathematics support sessions for people like me. I just don't want to be at a disadvantage due to the above problem.

Thoughts?

My universities don't require A Level Maths, so maybe they will teach us. I just had the impression that I'd be expected to do it all by myself.

You can carry on whenever you have spare time. If you can manage the maths in A-Level Chemistry, I think you should be fine.

I have just finished my chemistry degree and I didn't have A-level maths either.

PLEASE, teach yourself differentiation and integration before you begin. Also, understanding matrices and vectors will help you out.

I would't worry too much since a maths module is often compulsory to get everyone up to speed.

You can usually check for a list of modules on each university chemistry website. I would be very surprised if they didn't offer some kind of course!

I've looked at the modules for my firm choice. I don't know if I missed one of them or something, but I only read about the actual chemistry I'd be doing - I didn't see anything explicitly about mathematics.

Going by your profile Huddersfield has this module, which is probably named like it is to not put off applicants (I'm a cynic )

Handling data: ''The aim of this module is to help you to develop the basic IT and mathematics skills necessary for a science degree. For the mathematics part you’ll have the opportunity to learn scientific notation, basic algebra experimental functions, logarithms, differential calculations and integration techniques. For the computing part you’ll have the opportunity to learn how to use Microsoft Word and the Chem Draw chemical drawing package. You’ll also have the chance to gain experience of molecular modelling software. You’ll be assessed on a mixture of coursework based tests.''

If they don't require it, any relevant maths will be taught in the course. It's mainly relevant for the Physical Chemistry areas of the course, and they may use these modules as a platform to teach it (so essentially they're teaching you PChem and Maths in the module, even if it might just be called "Physical Chemistry" or "Change and Equilibrium" or something). I believe at Southampton for example, they teach (and examine) the Maths content in their Physical Chemistry modules. It's quite possible they might also hold workshops/tutorials/etc that aren't formally assessed to support or deliver the teaching of this content as well as/instead of the above.

It would still probably be helpful to run through some revision material and in particular, do some problems before the course starts. Khan Academy has quite useful video resources, and Paul's Online Math Notes have a huge variety of material up through A-level and beyond. Otherwise, referring to A-level revision materials and resources will likely be useful.

You may also want to look at some (basic) material on matrices and complex numbers, as these are also very relevant to Physical Chemistry.

I didn't see that module. I skimmed past it whilst looking at the different years' content. Thanks for that! It seems as though they do teach all the maths I haven't done before.



Surely with all this maths they'd tell you that you should have a basic understanding of it all before you start the course

I didn't even know complex numbers appeared in Chemistry - I always thought it was a Physics-y thing!

The maths in A Level Chemistry is easy, and the maths in Physics is straightforward too. I'm fine with maths in general, but it's just calculus which I haven't done before.



Did you get taught how to integrate and differentiate at university? Or did you do it all by yourself?

Well they'll presumably assume all GCSE content, and a good degree of fluency with it. But you can to an extent teach the basic calculus needed on the degree, as with e.g. biology. Having some prior knowledge will undoubtedly be helpful though.

Regarding complex numbers, you obviously know electrons play a pretty important role in chemistry, and hopefully are aware that they're small enough for quantum mechanical effects to be relevant; thus, quantum is a part of chemistry (quantum chemistry is broadly half of the physical chemistry content, the other half being thermodynamics and statistical mechanics). In quantum, complex numbers come in, albeit somewhat implicitly, so being aware of them is at least helpful I would imagine.

You won't need any kind of sophisticated complex variables/analysis stuff like a physicist, but a basic idea of what a complex number is, complex algebra, and probably most importantly, the relation between complex numbers and the sin/cos functions is going to be useful if not explicitly necessary. I may be overstating their importance, as my experience of QM has been from the physics side, but I'm aware that as above, QM is relevant to chemistry as well, and you'll likely cover at least some content in this realm (and depending on what areas you specialise in, perhaps more of it ).

Matrices also relate to the quantum stuff in a very deep way, although you may well not need to go that "deep" into it. However beyond that, matrices are basically useful because they make solving multiple simultaneous equations easier, which may crop up in a variety of ways in any science discipline. They're also very important for computational modelling of things, as computers are very "good" at matrix algebra, so a lot of computational problems are set up as issues of solving many equations simultaneously, using matrices. Computational methods are used to varying extents in chemistry as I understand, so having some understanding of them will help them you set up a problem to be solved computationally in MATLAB or something (this would be more at the research level, for example in your dissertation/final project if it's in the computational side).

you can teach yourself how to do both in a few hours on a good day and then practice for a week and youre set

Yeah, calculus from scratch is easily learnt in a few hours.

Wow! So there's a lot there for me to get to grips with before and during my degree. It seems rather intimidating as a non-mathematician.

And yeah, I've seen that complex numbers etc. relate with electrons. I didn't realise I'd have to be familiar with complex numbers as well, though.

Looks like I have a lot of work to do over the summer...