FIRST SCIENCE MATHEMATICS
Pass Mathematics: MATH1200

This page is maintained by Dr Hutchinson and Dr Quinlan.
We welcome any suggestions for improving it.

Contents of this Page

• Organisation of the Course
• Lectures Timetable
• Practicals
• The Blackboard site for this course
• Assessment of the Course
• Winter Exam Results (Provisional)
• Sample Paper 2 (Summer 2005)
• Students repeating MATH1200 externally
• Autumn (Repeat) Exams
• Homework
• Algebra and Calculus Home Pages
• Statistics in First Science
• Algebra Workbook

Organisation of the Course

First Science Pass Mathematics (MATH 1200) is a single course in Science consisting of two topics, algebra and calculus. Every student will attend a total of four lectures per week, two in algebra and two in calculus. Every student should attend one practical per week, beginning in the week of September 27th.

Because of the large number of students in First Year Science, the Pass Mathematics class is divided for the first semester into two groups, Group A and Group B.
Group A consists of those whose surnames begin with letters in the range A-K;
Group B consists of those whose surnames begin with letters in the range L-Z.
The two groups attend different lectures (see the lectures timetable ).

Lectures Timetable (First Semester)

Lectures Timetable (Second Semester)

Practicals

NOTE: We have decided that in the current year (2004/5), the first practicals will take place in the week beginning October 4th (and not in the week of September 27th as previously announced).

Each student must attend one practical per week, starting in the week of October 4th. He or she will be assigned to a particular practical based on his/her choice of subject combination. For details, see the Practicals Timetable below.

The practicals cover both topics, alternating between algebra and calculus from week to week. At each practical you will be assigned a set of problems to work through. Practical demonstrators will be on hand to give assistance. At the end of the practical you will hand up your solutions to one of the demonstrators. 10% of the overall mark in MATH1200 will be awarded for successful participation in practicals.

Furthermore, participation in practicals is mandatory. This means that any student who does not consistently attend and participate in practicals will receive a `FAIL' for the course, regardless of how they perform on other components of the course.

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The Blackboard site for MATH1200

Throughout the year important course materials will be posted electronically on the Blackboard web-site. To access the Blackboard site, go to

http://elearning.ucd.ie/

and enter your login ID and password. MATH1200 should appear among the list of your courses. Click on this with your mouse to gain entry to the MATH1200 Blackboard site.

Notice (November 11, 2004) Because some students have had difficulties getting access to the Blackboard Site, in the current year (2004/5) all important course materials will be made available on this home page and on the attached Algebra and Calculus homepages.

Assessment of the Course

Please Note: There is a new format of assessment this year. The final mark for the course will be assigned in the following way:

• Practicals: 10% of the mark
• Examination Paper 1 (Christmas): 30% of the mark
• Examination Paper 2 (Summer): 60% of the mark

Participation in practicals is mandatory. This means that any student who does not consistently attend and participate in practicals will receive a `FAIL' for the course, regardless of how they perform on other components of the course.

We will give you more information about the Christmas and Summer Examination papers later in the year.

Note

• Students attending MATH 1100 (First Year Honours)
  

  Students attending MATH1100 are invited to sit the MATH1200 Paper 1 (the Christmas test). In the event that such a student opts to transfer to MATH1200 at a later date, the better of that student's scores in the MATH1100 and MATH1200 Christmas tests will account for 30% of their overall mark.

  The topics examined in the MATH1200 Christmas test will be covered in the first semester of MATH1100.

Winter Exam Results (Provisional)

Here are the
MATH 1200 Paper 1 Results

They are listed by student number (first column). The marks (second column) are out of 80. The average mark was 37.16 and the standard deviation was 16. These marks will not become official until the summer Examination Board Meeting.

Sample Paper 2 (Summer 2005)

Here is a
sample version of the summer examination paper (Paper 2)

Note that, unlike previous years, there are three sections (Calculus, Algebra, Statistics) and three compulsory questions (Questions 1, 6 and 11).

Here are the Solutions to Section A

Here are the Solutions to Section B

Students Repeating MATH1200 externally

For students repeating MATH1200 externally in 2004/5, their mark will be assigned on the basis of two papers to be sat in the summer examination period:

The first, MATH1200 (Old Regulations) Paper 1, will count for 30% of your total mark. It will be a multiple choice test in the same format as the MATH1200 Exam paper at Christmas 2003. This paper is to be sat only by externally repeating students.

The second, MATH1200 (Old Regulations) Paper 2, will in the same format as the MATH1200 paper in Summer 2004. This will not be the same paper as that sat by those who have attended the course in the current year. It will count for 70% of your total mark for the course.

Autumn (Repeat) Exams

There will be two papers in the Autumn Examination in MATH1200.

Paper 1 will be similar in format and content to the December 2004 paper (Paper 1). The exam duration will be two hours and thirty minutes. This paper will account for 30% of the overall mark.

Paper 2 will be similar in format and content to the Summer 2005 paper (Paper 2). The exam duration will be three hours. This paper will account for 70% of the overall mark.

For information about summer tutorials in First Science Mathematics (MATH1200), contact Professor Rod Gow, Mathematics Department, UCD, 716 2575, Rod.Gow@ucd.ie.

Homework

Homework will be assigned each week. Calculus and Algebra homework will be assigned in alternate weeks. The homeworks will be posted on the Blackboard site for MATH1200. The problems assigned in practicals will be closely related to the previous week's homework. It is very important that each student study the relevant lecture material and attempt the homework problems before attending the week's practical. The homework problems themselves will not be covered directly in the practicals, but solutions will be provides at the MATH1200 Blackboard site.

Algebra and Calculus Home Pages

There are separate home pages for the topics Algebra and Calculus. These contain more information about the lecturer and syllabus.

Statistics in First Science

This year (2004/5), the MATH1200 syllabus includes 12 lectures in statistics and probability.

Here is the first chapter of the Statistics classnotes, in powerpoint format:
Chapter 1: Statistics

Here is the second chapter of the Statistics classnotes, in PDF format:
Chapter 2: Statistics

Algebra Workbook

We have prepared an algebra workbook ( here ) for the benefit of those students who would like to review basic secondary school algebra. It contains a large variety of worked examples on topics ranging from the algebra of fractions and of exponents to quadratic equations and roots of equations.
These basic algebraic techniques will be used throughout the year in both sections of the course and it is assumed that all students are familiar with them. So if you feel you may be a bit rusty on some parts of secondary school algebra, please take a look at the workbook.