I am emailing a link of this to everyone on the class list every Thursday afternoon. If you are not receiving these emails or want to have them sent to another email address feel free to email me at jippo@campus.ie and I will add you to the mailing list.

The lecture notes are now ready and must be purchased at the SU printing shop in the student centre. They are priced at €10. I thought they’d be cheaper but they contain all the exercises, all the homeworks and a lot of exam papers.

Note that the notes are NOT available in An Scoláire on College Road. I know that some of ye have gone there and are returning to get these notes tomorrow.

They will not be there as I have not emailed him a copy of these notes.
The notes are available in the SU SHOP IN THE STUDENT CENTRE.

In the mean time please find the first two lectures here — up to but not including Section 1.2.

General Information

Lecturer

J.P. McCarthy

Office

Mathematics Research, Western Gateway Building

Meetings by appointment via email only.

Email & Web

jippo@campus.ie and https://jpmccarthymaths.wordpress.com.

This page will comprise the webpage for this module and as such shall be the venue for course announcements including definitive dates for the test and the homework. This page shall also house such resources as links (such as to exam papers), as well supplementary material. Please note that not all items here are relevant to MS 2002; only those in the category `MS 2002′. Feel free to use the comment function therein as a point of contact.

Module Objective

To provide an introduction to Integral Calculus and ordinary differential equations.

Module Content

Techniques and applications of integration of functions of one variable; solution of ordinary differential equations.

Assessment

Total Marks 100: End of Year Written Examination 75 marks; Continuous
Assessment 25 marks.

Continuous Assessment

The continuous assessment consists of a test and a project. The test will take place on or about February 22 2012. You have a choice of six projects — one for each full chapter. You have full freedom in which one you want to do and can hand up early if you want. The final date for submission is 24 April 2012.

The webpage will contain the latest and definitive information about these.

Absence from a test will not be considered unless accompanied by a reasonable excuse (requiring medical cert or similar), in which case special arrangements will come into force.

The marks you obtain for the continuous assessment will be carried forward
to the Autumn exam.

Lectures

Wednesday 9-10, WGB G 03; Thursday 1-2 WGB G 14.

Tutorials

There will be a weekly tutorial starting in the third week of term (18/01/12): Wednesday 11-12 Civil Eng. 110. Please email me if this time clashes with another lecture, etc. There are many ways to learn maths. Two methods which aren’t going to work are

  1. reading your notes and hoping it will all sink in 
  2. learning off a few key examples, solutions, etc.

By far and away the best way to learn maths is by doing exercises, and there are two main reasons for this. The best way to learn a mathematical fact/ theorem/ etc. is by using it in an exercise. Also the doing of maths is a skill as much as anything and requires practise — you may find yourself rusty in terms of algebra. Regularly doing exercises will eliminate small slips and mistakes.

There is no shortage of exercises for you to try. Past exam papers are fair game. Also during lectures there will be some things that will be left as an exercise. How much time you can or should devote to doing exercises is a matter of personal taste, however tutorials will be far more productive for both you and I if you have at least attempted some exercises.

The format of tutorials is that those of you who have questions shall have them answered by me. No secrets will be divulged at tutorials and they are primarily for students who have questions about exercises. More general questions on course material shall be answered also. If there are no questions you shall be asked to do some exercises in class. Feel free at this point to put your hand up for some one-to-one attention.

 THINK OF TUTORIALS AS FREE GRINDS!

Reading

Your primary study material shall be the material presented in the lectures. Exercises done in tutorials may comprise further worked examples. While the lectures will present everything you need to know about MS 2002, they will not detail all there is to know about integral calculus. Further references are to be found in the library: in or nearby section 515 – anything with the word ‘Calculus’ in the title shall be relevant. The webpage will contain supplementary material, and contains links and pieces about topics that are at or beyond the scope of the course. Finally the internet provides yet another resource. Even Wikipedia isn’t too bad for this area of mathematics! You are encouraged to exploit these resources; they will also be useful for MS 3003.

Exam

The exam will have five questions. Question 1 will be compulsory and you will answer two out of the other four questions. Acceding to the maxim that learning off a few key examples, solutions, etc. is bad and doing exercises is good, solutions to past papers may not be made available. Only by trying to do the exam papers yourself can you guarantee proficiency. If you are still stuck at this stage feel free to ask the question come tutorial time.

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