Mathematicians among us... Come forth matherfuckers.

[MaybeGuy]

Right, I'm starting an Engineering degree in Australia, and I'm doing a foundation year just to sort me out/prep me for the coming years.

The facts:
I haven't really done any semi-difficult maths since I left school.

Anyway, I've been sent a practice exam to give me an idea of the assumed knowledge before I start the course.

I think I managed to answer 2 or 3 of them, when my course states I should be getting about 21.

I'll upload the exam paper. It has the answers, but that's not the point.

Can anyone explain how they got to the conclusions? I can see the workings, but that doesn't really tell me much.

Get your teach face on

The course starts tomorrow...

https://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/215891375857384910_JOSysNxb_b.jpg
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Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[P.addy]

Accepts challenge.

Sees first question.

https://static4.fjcdn.com/comments/What+the+fuck+is+going+on+there+no+one+knows+_3682cc8af7247fc57f399e24e3a083ec.jpg

WTF is this shit... I'm not a big fan of Maths, google seems to answer everything for me, which is exactly what I do when I have a question.

Seriously, what the fuck, this is required knowledge?! I'll stick to University of Google.

[WindyMiller]

I haven't looked through all of it, but quite a few of them are very simple problems. This is stuff you need to get through the course, so it's worth trying to get your head round it.

Q1. Sqrt (a/b) = sqrt(a)/sqrt(b), the square root of 9 is 3, square root of 16 is 4, so sqrt(9/16) = 3/4.

Don't know if that helps, or if that's one of the ones you knew.
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[jackw72]

Just finished AS maths as a mature student and yes those questions are basic, you will NOT be able to sit a paper like this without knowing nearly everything you need to know!
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[daemonoid]

As jack says, these are kind of basic the thing to do is get a decent calculator. Don't go for a full graphing to start with, but a casio with VPAM would help - you'll be able to answer most of these questions just using that.

Next thing... wolfram alpha. That will give you a good explanation of many of the intermediate steps.

Wikipedia is also great for maths so read about each concept in each question there. A GCSE level book on algebra would really help too as a large number of those questions only needed the formula re-arranging.

If you're really stuck with this by next week then I can give you an explanation of the ones you're finding really difficult - PM me. I have a deadline this week otherwise I'd do it now.
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[Rogerborg]

[el_oso]

there is no reason for a calculator for this text.....
this I would say is pretty basic stuff. High level GCSE (A*/A).
Wolfram alpha is a good tool, but the free version is restricted. I would be going down to the local library [or torrent/search engine] and obtaining a copy GCSE revision text and an A-level course. Learn about differentiation and integration too. These methods will probably be the most used
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[barrkel]

This is mostly fairly basic algebra and arithmetic. If you don't know most of it, you won't learn it in a single night. It would have helped if you could have said which questions seem vaguely familiar, and which ones stumped you.

Do you know some general rules of algebra?

(I'm using * to represent multiplication, because x is ambiguous with the variable of the same name.)

For example:

Q3 factorizing - this means turning an expression into a multiplication of two expressions. (This is very useful for solving the value of the equation with the expression equal to zero, because one or the other halves of the multiplication must then equal zero, and you can then solve for possible solutions to the equation. This comes up in Q8.)

(i) 6x - x^2

So x squared, is x * x. Another way of writing it is 6x - x*x. And what's common to both parts in that sum is x. So we can divide both part of the sum by x, and put x outside brackets, representing multiplication:

x(6 - x)

You can see this is the same expression by multiplying it out: x*6 - x*x = 6x - x^2.

The rule you need to be aware of here is (ax + b)(cx + d) = ax(cx + d) + b(cx + d) = ax*cx + ax*d + b*cx + b*d = acx^2 + (ad + bc)x + bd.

You need to have a good feel for how this multiplies out to tackle harder factorization problems. And generally, for these kinds of problems where you're asked to factorize, the answer usually only involves integers (whole numbers) - you're not expected to see fractional patterns in the multiplications. For example,

(ii) p^2 - 6p + 5

From what's stated above, 5 is in the 'bd' spot; but 5 is prime, so that tells me that either b or d is probably equal to 5, and the other is equal to 1. And from p^2 not having a constant factor (it has no constant number multiplying it), that tells me that ac = 1, so both a and c are 1.

Finally, -6p means there needs to be some subtraction in one or the other factors.

That gives enough information to guess at some possible answers:

(p + 5)(p - 1)
(p - 5)(p + 1)
(p - 5)(p - 1)

I figure out which one it is by multiplying them out:

(p + 5)(p - 1) = p(p - 1) + 5(p - 1) = p^2 - p + 5p - 1 = p^2 + 4p - 1
(p - 5)(p + 1) = p(p + 1) - 5(p + 1) = p^2 + p - 5p - 5 = p^2 - 4p - 5
(p - 5)(p - 1) = p(p - 1) - 5(p - 1) = p^2 - p - 5p + 5 = p^2 - 6p + 5

So the answer is the last one, (p - 5)(p - 1).

(iii) y^2 - 36

This one tests your knowledge of a little "trick" in the pattern. Remember "acx^2 + (ad + bc)x + bd" from above? The expression in this question comes about when (ad + bc) equals zero, i.e. bc = -ad. And this happens in equations of the form (ex + f)(ex - f) - I'm using e and f to avoid confusion with a through d in the other rule.

(ex + f)(ex - f) = ex(ex - f) + f(ex - f) = e^2x^2 - efx + efx - f^2 = e^2x^2 - f^2

So the answer to this one is fairly plain once you know the trick - it's (y + 6)(y - 6). e^2 has the value 1, f^2 has the value 36, so e=1, f=6, and it's clear.

I don't know if this refreshed anything. In order for you to pass this test with minimal work, it would need to refresh something. I don't think you can cram this without already having been at least somewhat familiar with it.
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[pinkyfloyd]

Erm......

Potato is the correct answer.
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[MaybeGuy]

[Rogerborg]

Ask yourself honestly if you enjoy it, and how much of the course is going to be maths. I bailed out on physics because it turned out that it was mostly sums and stuff.
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[fatpies]

Don't worry about it.

All universities do this. Its just an initial diagnostic. So they can categorise you and therefore give you some extra help if you need it. I.e. you cannot fail.

It is bad for business to turn students away.

So when you start the course this gets put on your ILP (individual learning plan), and it is something to work on.

This might be a class so buff up on your maths or a few hours with an assistant.

A university I am contracted to does this with a local partner college on 3 aspects. ICT, English (you need at least level 3) and maths.

If you are weak on the diagnostic they pass you over to the college to do some catch up classes.
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[J.M.]

Best book I ever bought for maths: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Engineering-Mathematics-K-Stroud/dp/1403942463

Answers all of those questions in the first couple of chapters. It's a brilliant book to explain things clearly. It's the only hope I've got of passing my maths module
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[el_oso]

[Sload]

Fairly straightforward stuff with a bit of practice. I found this to be very useful when I was taking maths, free extra tuition https://www.khanacademy.org/
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[herulach]

[hellkat]

[Spudly]

My father told me x always = 2. Hello journalism degree.
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[stinkwheel]

I could have done most of that when I left secondary school with a B in Higher Maths.

Couldn't do it now mind.
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[woodall57]

the thing i dont understand about this is how do you use what is on that paper?

how many apples do i buy, x2 or something

thats why i hate maths, most of what you learn you will never use and hardly any of it has a practical purpose
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[barrkel]

[shereen]

[Paulington]

[woodall57]

[P.addy]

I'm with woodall57.

I remember being at school and we had to work out what angle we needed to position a ladder at. We were given all the info and shit.

I just wrote "scared of heights, won't affect me later on in life as I won't climb a ladder"

I haven't used real math outside of school. Google works out anything remotely odd. I can count to 10 and back, I'll be fine