SEF026 - Essential Foundation Mathematical Skills - 2023/24
Topic outline
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This module is designed to strengthen your mathematical skills in elementary arithmetic and algebra, including integers, fractions, decimal representations, estimation, polynomials, rational functions, square roots, inequalities, linear and quadratic equations.
- The content of the module is based on the webbook: Essential Mathematics by Franco Vivaldi , which explains methods and provides examples that you are expected to work through .
- We shall have one lecture per week
(Thursdays, 17:00-18:00), in which we will cover respective sections of the book.
You are then expected to spend at least two hours per week studying the corresponding section of the book, doing all relevant questions and self-marking them against the answers shown in the book (answers are in the book next to the exercises).
Some questions in the webbook have a * (star) or ** (two stars) next to them. * indicates a slightly more difficult question and ** a significantly more difficult question, respectively, than no star. The * and ** questions are similar to those in the tests and exam. - During the tutorials (
one tutorial per week for each group, Mondays), we will solve together some questions selected from the webbook.
In the tutorials you can also discuss with us any problems with the lecture material or with the webbook. - There is weekly online coursework.
Almost every week, 15 questions will be made available in the form of an online quiz.
The quizzes are designed to help you prepare for the module Assessments (please see the "Assessment information" Tab for more info) and they will NOT contribute to your final mark. You are still expected to take them independently and without copying each other's work, but of course if there are any questions, please ask during the workshops.
We will not enforce that you do the quizzes, but you will not be able to score well in the actual Assessments without solving all courseworks. - Every week, make sure you:
✓ Read the relevant webbook pages.
✓ Do and self-mark the webbook exercises.
To prepare for the module Assessments, you should attempt as many exercises as possible in the webbook. As mentioned above, solutions are provided there for your immediate feedback.
✓ Do the coursework (online quiz).
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At the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Solve linear (simultaneous) equations.
- Make simple estimations (to the nearest integer, ten, hundred, thousand, etc.).
- Sort decimals and fractions in order, convert numbers between different forms (including scientific form).
- Round numbers to a given number of decimal places or significant figures.
- Carry out mixed arithmetical operations in the correct order.
- Calculate the GCD and LCM of pairs of rational numbers.
- Simplify expressions involving rational numbers and square roots.
- Manipulate simple algebraic expressions.
- Multiply and divide polynomials in one indeterminate.
- Simplify rational expressions in polynomials with one indeterminate.
- Use simple properties of inequalities.
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- Dr. Argyro Mainou: Teaching Fellow, School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London.
email: a.mainou@qmul.ac.uk
office: MB-202
learning support hours: Mondays 14:00 - 15:00 @MB-202 (please prefer this slot for SEF026-related discussions)
Thursdays 14:00 - 15:00 @School's Social Hub (MB-B11) (Learning Café)
- Dr. John Bray: Lecturer in Pure Mathematics, School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London.
email: j.n.bray@qmul.ac.uk
office:
learning support hour:
- Dr. Argyro Mainou: Teaching Fellow, School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London.
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This link has information to help you get the best out of QM+, including helpful guides and videos.
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Struggling?
If you are finding any aspect of the course challenging or have any other difficulty, we are here to help.
But note that we cannot help unless we know there is a problem, so make sure you contact the module organisers (or any other lecturer or the program director or the maths office) if there is an issue of concern.
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Welcome to Week 1!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; we will go through Section 1.1 of the webbook (p.5-7).
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p.7-9 of the webbook. If needed, read through p.1-7 of the webbook.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 1. The coursework will be available from Thursday, 28 September, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 5 October, 17:00.
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Welcome to Week 2!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read page 10 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p.10-11 of the webbook. During the 9 October tutorial on Monday, we shall discuss some of these problems.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 2. The coursework will be available from Thursday, 5 October, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 12 October, 17:00.
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Welcome to Week 3!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read pages 12 - 13 and 17 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p.13-16 and 18-20 of the webbook.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 3 . The coursework will be available from Thursday, 12 October, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 19 October, 17:00.
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Welcome to Week 4!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read pages 25-26 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p. 26-30 of the webbook.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 4. The coursework will be available from Thursday, 19 October, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 26 October, 17:00.
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Welcome to Week 5!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read pages 31-33 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p. 33-36 of the webbook.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 5. The coursework will be available from Thursday, 26 October, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 2 November, 17:00.
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Welcome to Week 6!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read page 37 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on pages 38-40 of the webbook.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 6. The coursework will be available from Thursday, 2 November, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 9 November, 17:00.
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There are no lectures or tutorials and there is no coursework during Week 7.
Please use the link below to access the MOCK Test 1, which is last year's Test 1 (academic year 2022-2023).
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Please note that this MOCK test will remain open for you to practice and will not have a limit for the number of attempts.
The actual test on Monday, Week 8, will have a time limit of 2 hours and you will only be allowed one submission attempt - more details will follow about Monday's test soon. -
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Week 8: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Test 1 online~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ new material on Thursday: Polynomial factorization and rational expressions
Welcome to Week 8!
To do:
1. Take the online Test 1 on Monday, 13 Nov 2023, at 11:00-13:00 .
Please read the following information before taking the test and then use the link below to access the test.
- Test 1 will be in the form of an online quiz, similar to the weekly coursework quizzes. It will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions.
- Only ONE attempt will be allowed for submitting your answers.
- The test is based on all material discussed during the first 5 weeks in lectures, tutorials and webbook.
- Its contribution towards the final mark of this module is 25%.
- You will be able to access the quiz from 11:00 to 13:00 on Monday, 13 Nov 2023.
- You will have exactly 2 hours to solve all problems and to submit your answers. You won't be able to submit your answers after the 2 hours have expired (after 13:00 on November 13th) . If your attempt is still in progress after the2 hours, any work you have accomplished so far will be automatically submitted.
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Test 1 (EC) Quiz
The test will be available for 24 hours (Tue 28 Nov 00:00 - 24:00). Once you open the test, you will have exactly 2 hours to solve all problems and to submit your answers. You won't be able to submit your answers after the 2 hours have expired . If your attempt is still in progress after the 2 hours, any work you have accomplished so far will be automatically submitted.
Only ONE attempt is allowed for submitting your answers.
→ The test's contribution towards the final mark of this module is 25% .
→ You will be able to access this quiz from 00:00 to 24:00 on Tuesday, 28 Nov 2023.
Please contact maths@qmul.ac.uk if you experience any issues when submitting your work on QMplus. Please do not leave your submission to the last minute , sincethere is a risk of your attempt timing out - try submitting enough time before and if there is any issue, send your answers to maths@qmul.ac.uk before the closing time of the quiz and within 2 hours since you first accessed it.
→ In completing this assessment:
- You may use books and notes.
- The use of calculators is not allowed.
- You may use the Internet as a resource, but not to ask for the solution to a test question or to copy any solution you find.
- You must not seek or obtain help from anyone else.
You will be able to see your marks and the correct answers after the Quiz closes, that is on Tuesday 28 Nov, 24:00.
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Welcome to Week 9!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read pages 55 and 59 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p. 55-58 and 59-62 of the webbook.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 8. The coursework will be available from Thursday, 23 November, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 30 November, 17:00.
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Welcome to Week 10!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read page 63 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p. 64-67 of the webbook.
3. After the lecture, solve the problems from online coursework 9. The coursework will be available from Thursday, 30 November, 18:00 and the deadline for submission will be on Thursday, 7 December, 17:00.
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Welcome to Week 11!
To do:
1. Participate in the lecture; please read pages 68-70 of the webbook.
2. After the lecture, try to solve the problems on p. 70-74 of the webbook.
3. Please note that this week there is no online coursework, as it would clash with your preparations for online Test 2 (Week 12, Monday 11 Dec, 11:00-13:00 ).
4. Instead, please prepare for Test 2 next week by doing the two sample Week 12 tests that you can find below.
→The sample tests can also be found under the "Assessment information" Tab, in the "Exam papers" Topic.-
Please note that this MOCK test will remain open for you to practice and will not have a limit for the number of attempts.
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Please note that this MOCK test will remain open for you to practice and will not have a limit for the number of attempts.
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Week 12: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Test 2 online~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Revision session on Thursday: MOCK final exam
Welcome to Week 12!
To do:
1. Take the online Test 2 on Monday, 11 Dec 2023, at 11:00-13:00 .
Please read the following information before taking the test and then use the link below to access the test.
- Test 2 will be in the form of an online quiz, similar to Test 1. It will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions.
- Only ONE attempt will be allowed for submitting your answers.
- The test is based on all material discussed during Weeks 6-11 in lectures, tutorials and webbook.
- Its contribution towards the final mark of this module is 25%.
- You will be able to access the quiz from 11:00 to 13:00 on Monday, 11 Dec 2023.
- You will have exactly 2 hours to solve all problems and to submit your answers. You won't be able to submit your answers after the 2 hours have expired (after 13:00 on November 13th) . If your attempt is still in progress after the2 hours, any work you have accomplished so far will be automatically submitted.
IMPORTANT!!!
Please submit your rough work related to Test 2 as a single PDF file under the link you can find below (Rough work for Test 2). Please provide a brief explanation in your rough work about how you solved each question.
If you do not submit your rough work, the mark for your test will be 0.
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Test 2 (EC) Quiz
The test will be available for 24 hours (Fri 19 Jan 00:00 - 24:00). Once you open the test, you will have exactly 2 hours to solve all problems and to submit your answers. You won't be able to submit your answers after the 2 hours have expired . If your attempt is still in progress after the 2 hours, any work you have accomplished so far will be automatically submitted.
Only ONE attempt is allowed for submitting your answers.Please submit your rough work related to Test 2 (EC) as a single PDF file under the link you can find below (Rough work for Test 2 (EC)). If you do not submit your rough work, the mark for your test will be 0.
→ The test's contribution towards the final mark of this module is 25% .
→ You will be able to access this quiz from 00:00 to 24:00 on Friday, 19 Jan 2024.
Please contact maths@qmul.ac.uk if you experience any issues when submitting your work on QMplus. Please do not leave your submission to the last minute , since there is a risk of your attempt timing out - try submitting enough time before and if there is any issue, send your answers to maths@qmul.ac.uk before the closing time of the quiz and within 2 hours since you first accessed it.
→ In completing this assessment:
- You may use books and notes.
- The use of calculators is not allowed.
- You may use the Internet as a resource, but not to ask for the solution to a test question or to copy any solution you find.
- You must not seek or obtain help from anyone else.
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Rough work for Test 2 (EC) Assignment
Please upload here your rough work on the 2024 Week 12 Test (EC) as a single pdf file.
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→ Please note that the weekly coursework does not contribute to your final mark; more details in the "Module Description" Section, under the "IMPORTANT Module Information" Tab.
→ Find the link to the weekly coursework in the relevant Week's Section, under the "Module Content" Tab. -
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Please note that this MOCK test will remain open for you to practice and will not have a limit for the number of attempts.
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Please note that this MOCK test will remain open for you to practice and will not have a limit for the number of attempts.
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1.2 MB
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This is an optional anonymous feedback form where you can let us know what you think works well and what can be improved about the module.
Your feedback is very much appreciated and will be useful for further improving the student experience at QMUL.
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