Maths:
A Student's Survival Guide
A Self-Help Workbook for Science and
Engineering Students by Jenny Olive
Welcome to my book home page!
This is the cover of the second edition, published in September 2003 by Cambridge
University Press.
I've made this webpage and its links to explain what my book is for, and
how it might help. I wrote it particularly to fill in the gaps which some
first-year college and university students have. It's designed so that it
can be used by people working on their own, so all the exercises have full
solutions. Also, I've used forwards and backwards references to link
topics together as much as possible so as to show their uses and how they
affect each other. My book should help anyone who is having a bumpy ride
with their maths.
The new edition includes some changes and additions in the
text, arising from reader feedback and suggestions. I've also added a new
chapter on vectors which is based on my web
vector pages. Putting them in book form has made it possible to
expand them and add lots of examples and problems. The book costs £19.95 in the UK and
$40.00 in the USA.
What people have said about the first edition.
I've put some useful advice on getting started
(and successfully
continuing!) in
help with starting
maths problems.
If you've got any comments or suggestions I'd be pleased to hear from you.
You can email me by taking out the xyz from
xyzjenolive@netcomuk.co.uk but
please don't send attachments as I don't open them. The xyz is against
robot viruses.
The links below give
full details of the contents of each chapter.
- Basic algebra: some reminders of how it works
- Graphs and equations
- Relations and functions
- Some trigonometry and geometry of triangles
and circles
- Extending trigonometry to angles of any size
- Sequences and series
- Binomial series and proof by induction
- Differentiation
- Integration
- Complex numbers
- Working with vectors NEW in
the second edition
I am planning to put extra bits here connected to the different chapters. Here are the first
two.
Having this site means that I can easily put right any mistakes which
have slipped
through my checking. I'm doing this in
corrections.
(Most recently added to in January 2002)
All of these have been put right in the
new edition.
Just in case I find any mistakes in the 2nd edition, I'll put the corrections
in 2nd edition corrections.
I'm also using my website
as a way of sharing some other mathematical stuff which I've written.
There are now three sets of linked pages:
Maths Help ... working with vectors
and
Introducing groups and symmetry
and
Maths Help ... working with
percentages
I wrote this set of pages to help non-mathematical students with numeracy
tests.
Thanks for visiting my web pages. I hope you'll come again!
Last updated January 13th 2004