Welcome to the Core Mathematics module. This module forms part of the International Foundation Year programme. The overall aim of this programme is to increase your confidence in using mathematics and develop your analytical processing and academic study skills to meet the mathematical demands of your chosen first degree course at Royal Holloway. 

Mathematics is a requirement of many first degrees, including computer science, psychology and economics. The course aims to consolidate and build on your current knowledge and develop a greater understanding in pure mathematics and statistics. 

The pure mathematics section will include units reviewing basic arithmetic concepts important in science and algebra to generalise and solve problems. Graphical concepts will be introduced that support business decisions. Finally, you will meet basic calculus methods to enable problem solving and decision making. 

The statistics section of this module will take you through the practical aspects of collecting and representing data visually and numerically to enable interpretation and extrapolation. You will meet theoretical probability and both discrete and continuous probability distributions and learn how to make decisions. Your knowledge of scatter graphs will be refined to enable correlation and regression analysis. 

It is an expectation that technology will be used where appropriate including, but not limited to, a scientific calculator (not graphical/programmable) and Microsoft Excel. 

Finally, you will engage in group activities as well as working individually. The emphasis is on independent learning with the support of the group, class and teacher. 

Remember, 

“The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.” – Paul Halmos 

If you have any general module queries, have trouble competing/uploading your assignment, or just want to discuss your progress, please contact Elizabeth Kaplunov, your Core Maths Module tutor (elizabeth.kaplunov@rhul.ac.uk).

If you need specific English writing help, you should speak to  your AES tutor and/or Christopher Storrs -Fox (christopher.storrs-fox@rhul.ac.uk) and they can tell you about the language support available to you.