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The Open University

Mathematics for science and technology

The Open University via OpenLearn

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Overview

Maths is intimately entwined with science and technology, whether it is used to analyse data collected on plants in the Amazon rainforest, to calculate the trajectory of a comet or design a bridge to connect two countries.  This means that science and technology go hand-in-hand with maths, and that a firm grasp of maths is crucial for studying any science and technology discipline.This free course, Mathematics for science and technology, will help you build a stronger grip with the maths helping hand. You’ll learn about the power of algebra, get a sense of scientific notation, the beauty of basic trigonometry and why 70 db (decibels) is 10 times more powerful than 60 db. As well as this you will delve into scientific measurement, including the importance of units and the flexibility and practically of the SI – the internationally recognised system of units based on multiples of ten.TranscriptEnrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn68. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge.The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey 69. Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our optional end-of-course survey 70. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office. It can be used to provide evidence of continuing professional development and on successful completion of the course you will be awarded 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation.  

Syllabus

  • Introduction and guidance
  • Introduction and guidance
  • What is a badged open course?
  • How to get a badge
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week1Week 1: Powers and scientific notation
  • Introduction
  • 1 Powers
  • 1.1 Rule 1 – Multiplying with powers
  • 1.2 Rule 2 – Dividing with powers
  • 1.3 Rule 3 – Powers of powers
  • 1.4 Roots and fractional indices
  • 1.5 The power of zero
  • 2 Large quantities and small quantities – scientific notation
  • 3 This week’s quiz
  • 4 Summary of Week 1
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week2Week 2: Measurements
  • Introduction
  • 1 Units of measurement
  • 2 Scales of measurement
  • 3 The logarithmic scale
  • 4 How precise are the measurements?
  • 5 This week’s quiz
  • 6 Summary of Week 2
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week3Week 3: Introduction to algebra
  • Introduction
  • 1 Why use algebra?
  • 2 Simplifying algebraic expressions
  • 2.1 Sequence of arithmetical calculations
  • 2.2 Positive and negative numbers
  • 2.3 Brackets in mathematics
  • 3 Changing the subject of an equation
  • 4 Solving simple equations with one unknown
  • 5 Simultaneous equations
  • 6 This week’s quiz
  • 7 Summary of Week 3
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week4Week 4: Starting with trigonometry
  • Introduction
  • 1 Right angled triangles
  • 2 Sine, cosine and tangent
  • 2.1 Right angled triangles – one known side, and two known angles
  • 2.2 Right-angled triangles – two known values, and one unknown value
  • 3 Trigonometry in practice
  • 4 This week’s quiz
  • 5 Summary of Week 4
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week5Week 5: Logarithms
  • Introduction
  • 1 Logarithms to base 10
  • 2 Three log rules
  • 3 Natural logarithms
  • 4 Change of base
  • 5 This week’s quiz
  • 6 Summary of Week 5
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week6Week 6: Probability
  • Introduction
  • 1 Chance and probability
  • 2 Calculating probability
  • 3 Probability and common sense
  • 4 Ways of expressing probability
  • 5 Combining probabilities
  • 6 This week’s quiz
  • 7 Summary of Week 6
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week7Week 7: Statistics and repeated measurements
  • Introduction
  • 1 Types of data sets
  • 2 Repeated measurements
  • 3 The distribution of repeated measurements
  • 4 Mean and standard deviation for repeated measurements
  • 5 Using a calculator for statistical calculations
  • 6 This week’s quiz
  • 7 Summary of Week 7
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week8Week 8: Statistics and sampling
  • Introduction
  • 1 How likely are particular results?
  • 1.1 Different types of distribution
  • 2 Different types of ‘average’
  • 3 Samples and populations
  • 4 This week’s quiz
  • 5 Summary of Week 8
  • Where next?
  • Tell us what you think
  • Acknowledgements

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5.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

4 rating at OpenLearn based on 24 ratings

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    Soya C K
    The most important feature which I liked was the content.
    The questions for quiz was application based which will help in deep learning.
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