Maths: A Student's Survival Guide: A Self-Help Workbook for Science and Engineering Students - Softcover

Olive, Jenny

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521017076 ISBN 13: 9780521017077

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2003

Synopsis

The second edition of a highly successful introductory textbook on essential mathematics.

About this title

Review

From reviews of the first edition: '... a friendly book written in an engaging style ... It also contains very full, worked solutions to the exercises, which will greatly aid self-study. The introduction contains wise guidance on how to study and understand mathematics and the author's experience as a teacher comes out through her warnings of pitfalls and common errors ... it will be valued particularly by those who need to make up a deficiency in a specific topic or to remove the rust from their mathematics ... working through a few sections from Olive may be the prescription to cure the problem in many cases.' Nigel Steele, Times Higher Education Supplement

'... designed as a self-study guide, and allows students to make as much use of sections of the book as they need ... An important feature is that for every concept, the book returns to basics, giving clear and entertaining explanations of the background to maths ... this book is a fine example of its kind and I shall certainly use it with my students in the coming year.' Geoff Auty, School Science Review

'... excellent value, and certainly worth recommending to the strugglers in your maths class or tutorial group.' Andrew King, The Observatory

'The text is unusually friendly for a book on mathematics ...' Education in Chemistry

'Mathematics books are often written by mathematicians for mathematicians, which can make them inaccessible to non-mathematicians. This one, however, is not, and consequently will be accessible to Earth Science students and would be useful addition to their book collection.' Jo Scott and Charlie Bendall, Teaching Earth Sciences

'Do not let the thickness of this volume put you off exploring its contents! Between its covers is a carefully constructed progression through the major mathematical concepts required by the new college or university student of science or engineering at an affordable price. Gone ... is the stuffy approach of many mathematics text books.' Journal of Biological Education

'... this is a very good book of its kind for the simple reason that the author gets across the really essential message of any teaching approach - that she is there to help the students, thinks about their needs and find ways to address them. there are some nice little 'human' touches that raise a smile ... many students will warm to this book because the author clearly cares for their interests.' The Mathematical Gazette

From the Author

How my book can help with maths.
I've written this book to help students make the jump to the maths they need for first-year science and engineering courses. Its style is friendly and encouraging with many hints on how to avoid common mistakes. In maths, being happy with new concepts nearly always depends upon having understood previous work, so when I'm explaining something new, I give exact back-refences to where I've explained its various foundations. My book covers basic algebra, functions, trigonometry, series including binomial series, complex numbers and calculus with chapters on differentiation and integration. I've included hyperbolic functions here too.

If you are a student, you'll find lots of diagrams which I urge you to draw on and add to, and even some little extra drawings to keep you cheerful. I also give detailed solutions to problems so that you can sort out for yourself any mistakes that you made when you tried them. You won't need to be afraid of getting stuck because you'll be able to find out what went wrong. You'll also find plenty of help and encouragement to think for yourself and gain self-confidence. Try it and see!

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521017076
• ISBN 13: 9780521017077
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 650