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Future Students> Undergraduate> Programs & Courses> Details of Courses> First Year> Informal Descriptions

Informal Descriptions of First Year Mathematics Course

Click on the course name for an informal description of the course. (Currently these are nearly the same as the formal details but will be eventually re-written.)

The courses are normally taken in pairs as indicated.

Standard core courses

Other core courses

Discrete Mathematics courses

Other courses

The Informal Details

MATH1011 Fundamentals of Mathematics 1B

Semester: 1
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Excluded: MATH1031, MATH1131, MATH1141, MATH1151, ECON1202, ECON2291
Description: Functions (and their inverses), limits, asymptotes, continuity; differentiation and applications; integration, the definite integral and applications; inverse trigonometric functions; the logarithmic and exponential functions and applications; sequences and series; mathematical induction; the binomial theorem and applications; introduction to probability theory; introduction to 3-dimensional geometry; introduction to linear algebra.
Assumed Knowledge:A level of knowledge equivalent to achieving a mark of at least 60 in HSC Mathematics. Students who have taken General Mathematics will not have achieved the level of knowledge which is assumed in this course.
Note/s: This course is intended for students who do not propose to study any Mathematics beyond first year level. Almost all later year courses in Mathematics have completion of MATH1231, MATH1241 or MATH1251 as a prerequisite. This course can be taken as a preparatory course by students who need to take MATH1131 but do not meet the assumed knowledge requirement.


MATH1031 Mathematics for Life Sciences

Semester: 1
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Excluded: MATH1011, MATH1021, MATH1131, MATH1141, MATH1151, MATH1231, MATH1241, MATH1251, ECON1202, ECON2291
Description: atrices and systems of linear equations. Functions and modelling. Differentiation. Exponentials and logarithms. Analysis of functions (limiting behaviour, maxima and minima, locating zeros). Functions of several variables. Interpolation and approximation. Discrete time dynamical systems. Complex numbers . Integration. Differential equations.
Assumed Knowledge: A level of knowledge equivalent to achieving a mark of at least 60 in HSC Mathematics. Students who have taken General Mathematics will not have achieved the level of knowledge which is assumed in this course.
Note/s: This course is intended for students who do not propose to study any Mathematics beyond first year level. Almost all later year courses in Mathematics have completion of MATH1231, MATH1241 or MATH1251 as a prerequisite.


MATH1041 Statistics for Life and Social Sciences

Semester: 2
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Excluded: MATH1049, MATH1059, MATH2829, MATH2839, MATH2859, MATH2899, ECON1203, ECON2292
Description: Probability, random variables, independence. Discrete distributions, Poisson and binomial distributions. Data analysis, Descriptive statistics. Sampling, Continuous distributions, the normal distribution. Estimation of mean and variance. Tests of hypotheses. Linear regression and correlation. Analysis of variance. Tests for goodness of fit. Bayesian statistics.
Assumed Knowledge: As for MATH1031
Note: This course is intended for students who do not propose to study any Mathematics beyond first year level. Almost all later year courses in Mathematics have completion of MATH1231, MATH1241 or MATH1251 as a prerequisite.


MATH1081 Discrete Mathematics

Semester: 1 or 2
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Corequisite/s: MATH1131 or MATH1141;
Excluded: MATH1090.
Description: Role of proof in mathematics, logical reasoning and implication, different types of proofs. Sets, algebra of sets, operations on sets. Mathematical logic, truth tables, syntax, induction. Graphs and directed graphs, basic graph algorithms. Counting, combinatorial identities, binomial and multinomial theorems. Binary operations and their properties, ordered structures. Recursion relations.
Assumed Knowledge: HSC Mathematics Extension 1. Students will be expected to have achieved a combined mark of at least 100 in Mathematics and Mathematics Extension 1.


MATH1131 Mathematics 1A

Staff Contact: School Office
Semester: 1 or 2
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Excluded: MATH1011, MATH1031, MATH1141, MATH1151, ECON1202, ECON2291
Description: Complex numbers, vectors and vector geometry, linear equations, matrices and matrix algebra, determinants. Functions, limits, continuity and differentiability, integration, polar coordinates, logarithms and exponentials, hyperbolic functions, functions of several variables. Introduction to computing and the Maple symbolic algebra package.
Assumed Knowledge:HSC Mathematics Extension 1. Students will be expected to have achieved a combined mark of at least 100 in Mathematics and Mathematics Extension 1.


MATH1141 Higher Mathematics 1A

Semester: 1
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Excluded: MATH1011, MATH1031, MATH1131, MATH1151, ECON1202, ECON2291
As for MATH1131 but in greater depth.
Assumed Knowledge:HSC Mathematics Extension 1 and Extension 2. Students will be expected to have achieved a combined mark of at least 186 in Mathematics Extension 1 and Extension 2.


MATH1151 Mathematics for Actuarial Studies and Finance 1A

Semester: 1
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Excluded: MATH1011, MATH1031, MATH1131, MATH1141, ECON1202, ECON2291
Description: Vectors and vector geometry, linear equations, matrices and matrix algebra, basic input-output linear models, determinants, least squares approximation, probability and statistics. Limits, continuous and differentiable functions, mean value theorem, fundamental theorem of calculus, numerical integration, functions of several variables, introduction to Matlab.
Assumed Knowledge:HSC Mathematics Extension 1. Students will be expected to have achieved a combined mark of at least 140 in Mathematics and Mathematics Extension 1 or 180 in Mathematics Extension 1 and Extension 2.
Note/s: Available only to students in Actuarial Studies, in BCcom/BSc with majors in Mathematics or in the Quantitative Risk program in Advanced Mathematics.


MATH1231 Mathematics 1B

Semester: 2 or Summer
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Prerequisite/s: MATH1131 or MATH1141;
Excluded: MATH1021, MATH1031, MATH1241, MATH1251, ECON1202, ECON2291.
Description: Vector spaces, linear transformations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Introduction to probability and statistics. Integration techniques, solution of ordinary differential equations, sequences, series, applications of integration.


MATH1241 Higher Mathematics 1B

Semester: 2
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Prerequisite/s: MATH1131 CR or MATH1141CR;
Excluded: MATH1021, MATH1031, MATH1231, MATH1251, ECON1202, ECON2291.
As for MATH1231 but in greater depth.


MATH1251 Mathematics for Actuarial Studies and Finance 1B

Semester: 2
Units of Credit: 6
Hours Per Week: 6
Prerequisite/s: MATH1151;
Excluded: MATH1021, MATH1031, MATH1231, MATH1241, ECON1202, ECON2291.
Description: Complex numbers, vector spaces, polynomial interpolation, linear transformations, Markov processes, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Exact and numerical solution of ordinary differential equations, sequences, double integrals, Lagrange multipliers.
Note/s: Available only to students in Actuarial Studies, in BCcom/BSc with majors in Mathematics or in the Quantitative Risk program in Advanced Mathematics.