Advices for studying uni level maths thank you :) (1 Viewer)

[Elise8842]

Hi ,

Could someone please suggest what preparation for maths involved in economics and actuarial study should be done during the holiday before first year uni ?

Like what maths topics need special attention and what material should I use to prepare for them ?

Thanks in advance


~

 

[Squar3root]

2/3/4U stuff from school

 

[Drongoski]

Maybe it'll help if you indicate what highest maths you did for your HSC?

 

[Elise8842]

Maybe it'll help if you indicate what highest maths you did for your HSC?

I did 4U maths, but only made it to a middle band 5


~

 

[Elise8842]

Maybe it'll help if you indicate what highest maths you did for your HSC?

But thank god the 3U maths was a middle band6


~

 

[Drongoski]

Since you have done 4U and have done well in 3U and not bad in 4U, you should be OK. You can borrow any uni Calculus text and read up on concepts of limits, continuity, diffeerentiability, l'hopital's Rule, sequences and series and their convergence or otherwise, Taylor & Maclaurin series, Rolle's and Mean value Theorem etc. Also grab a beginning level book on Linear Algebra and do some preliminary reading. Also find a beginner's book on Mathematical Statistics - this is one area your HSC does not cover.

I suspect several 4U topics have little direct relevance, like: Conics, Mechanics, Graphs.

I'm only guessing when offering you this advice. I don't even know what maths units you'll be doing in your 1st year of Actuary course. I know quite a number on BoS are doing Actuarial Studies at UNSW and teey'll be able to give more correct advice.

 

[Elise8842]

Since you have done 4U and have done well in 3U and not bad in 4U, you should be OK. You can borrow any uni Calculus text and read up on concepts of limits, continuity, l'hopital's Rule, sequences and series and their convergence or otherwise, Taylor & Maclaurin series, Rolle's and Mean value Theorem etc. Also grab a beginning level book on Linear Algebra and do some preliminary reading. Also find a beginner's book on Mathematical Statistics - this is one area your HSC does not cover.

I'm only guessing when offering you this advice. I don't even know what maths units you'll be doing in your 1st year of Actuary course. I know quite a number on BoS are doing Actuarial Studies at UNSW and teey'll be able to give more correct advice.

Thanks so much for such a detailed response! !


~

 

[funnytomato]

Since you have done 4U and have done well in 3U and not bad in 4U, you should be OK. You can borrow any uni Calculus text and read up on concepts of limits, continuity, diffeerentiability, l'hopital's Rule, sequences and series and their convergence or otherwise, Taylor & Maclaurin series, Rolle's and Mean value Theorem etc. Also grab a beginning level book on Linear Algebra and do some preliminary reading. Also find a beginner's book on Mathematical Statistics - this is one area your HSC does not cover.

I suspect several 4U topics have little direct relevance, like: Conics, Mechanics, Graphs.

I'm only guessing when offering you this advice. I don't even know what maths units you'll be doing in your 1st year of Actuary course. I know quite a number on BoS are doing Actuarial Studies at UNSW and teey'll be able to give more correct advice.

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Drongoski again."

 

[funnytomato]

Hi ,

Could someone please suggest what preparation for maths involved in economics and actuarial study should be done during the holiday before first year uni ?

Like what maths topics need special attention and what material should I use to prepare for them ?

Thanks in advance


~

+1 to Drongoski's post, feel bad that I cannot rep it

also you can have a look at the core/compulsory maths subjects required for your degree at your uni
as it might be slightly different for various courses at each university

but essentially the topics involved would be something like what Drongoski mentioned

from your HSC marks, I guess you should be alright with the calculus stuff if you put a bit of effort into it

but you also need to try and familiarise yourself with some linear algebra and statistics

material-wise, you could buy some 2nd hand lecture notes(once you know your subjects) from past students and textbooks

 

[Elise8842]

+1 to Drongoski's post, feel bad that I cannot rep it

also you can have a look at the core/compulsory maths subjects required for your degree at your uni
as it might be slightly different for various courses at each university

but essentially the topics involved would be something like what Drongoski mentioned

from your HSC marks, I guess you should be alright with the calculus stuff if you put a bit of effort into it

but you also need to try and familiarise yourself with some linear algebra and statistics

material-wise, you could buy some 2nd hand lecture notes(once you know your subjects) from past students and textbooks

Haha thank you very much too!


~

 

[motaba]

which uni?

 

[Elise8842]

Unsw


~

 

[motaba]

ah ok, i can help you there then.
Maths is split up into calculus and algebra. for algebra, you might want to have a little look at matrices and vectors, and how you can apply them to linear systems. It's a new topic but probs won't be too hard to learn by yourself as it has familiar roots. You'll be able to find lots of vids online or i can give you lecture notes if you want.
For calculus, first year involves a lot of rigorous proofs and definitions, some of it is similar to hs stuff, but goes more in depth. Some theorems you might want to have a look at are Intermediate Value Theorem and Mean Value theorem, but tbh it's probs easier to learn from a lecturer.
dw too much about preparing for uni imo, i didn't and still went well, it's much more important to consistently work throughout the year, maths has a lot of content and you don't want to be too far behind for finals.

 

[Elise8842]

ah ok, i can help you there then.
Maths is split up into calculus and algebra. for algebra, you might want to have a little look at matrices and vectors, and how you can apply them to linear systems. It's a new topic but probs won't be too hard to learn by yourself as it has familiar roots. You'll be able to find lots of vids online or i can give you lecture notes if you want.
For calculus, first year involves a lot of rigorous proofs and definitions, some of it is similar to hs stuff, but goes more in depth. Some theorems you might want to have a look at are Intermediate Value Theorem and Mean Value theorem, but tbh it's probs easier to learn from a lecturer.
dw too much about preparing for uni imo, i didn't and still went well, it's much more important to consistently work throughout the year, maths has a lot of content and you don't want to be too far behind for finals.

You're studying economics in unsw XD? Haha, thanks heaps for the advice, it'd be lovely to have a look of those lecture notes if that's convenient for you ( I had no idea of those matrices and linear algebra XD)


~

 

[motaba]

Actl/Econ actually, pm me your email for the lecture notes
Also dw about maths used in economics, it's nothing compared to what you have to to in actl lol

 

[zhiying]

If you really have nothing to do in holidays and you want to study...

Ignore economics there's like no math there, basic differentiation and simultaneous equation is sufficient until like 3rd year, unless you do some statistical based economics courses in 2nd year, but then by that time you would know all that from actuarial courses.

In actuarial math, first year is just generic entry level university calculus/algebra. If you have time I'd suggest you touch up on vector/matrix operations so you're familiar with them. For calculus, revise your integration/differentiation stuff, then basically google first year calculus and pretty much any link will tell you what you need to know.

Good idea to also do some reading in basic statistics/probability, e.g. descriptive stats like mean/variance, different distributions (normal, exponential, Poisson etc.), probability laws like total law of probability, Baye's theorem etc.