I am emailing a link of this to everyone on the class list every week. If you are not receiving these emails or want to have them sent to another email address feel free to email me at jpmccarthymaths@gmail.com and I will add you to the mailing list.
Assessment 1 Results
Assessment 1 Results will go on your Blackboard the afternoon of Friday 11 October. Question five (about the reduction in area) has been declared null and void so everybody is being awarded that mark.
Course Notes
The notes contain all the lecture material, all the exercises and exercise sheets as well as all of last year’s assessments and you will need them from Monday on. They cost €15 and are on sale in the copying centre. Also find a useful reference here.
Week 3
In Week 3 we looked at Length, Area and Trigonometry.
Week 4
In Week 4 we will finish trigonometry and start discussing approximation and perhaps statistics.
Assessment 2
Assessment 2 is on in Week 5. Keep an eye on your CIT Blackboard for the latest and definitive assessment information.
Tutorials
Tutorials are now in full swing:
- Group A: Monday 14:00 in B269 and Thursday 10:00 in E7
- Group B: Monday 12:00 in F1. 3 and Tuesday 15:00 in B116
Study
Please feel free to ask me questions about the exercises via email or even better on this webpage — especially those of us who struggled in the test.
Academic Learning Centre
I would urge anyone having any problems with material that isn’t being addressed in the tutorials to use the Academic Learning Centre. As you can see the timetable is quite generous. You will get best results if you come to the helpers there with specific questions. You could also win a tablet device if you enter a competition that they are running.
Maple & Wolfram Alpha
If you are subscribed to CIT MathsOnline you will have free access to the mathematical software package Maple:
Self-enrolment for Maths Online
1. Log into Blackboard Learn
2. Click on the Courses tab button at the top of the screen. Go to Course Search and type Maths Online in the box.
3. Once you’ve found the course, click on the action link button next to the course and click on Enrol. This should take you to the Self Enrolment page.
4. Your Access Code is mathsonline (lower case, no spaces).
5. After you’ve finished click Submit. You should now see a message that says your enrolment was successful.
Once you’ve enrolled, you can download Maple by selecting the Mathematical Software tab in the left hand column and following the instructions under the Maple item.
I myself am not a Maple expert but ‘grew up’ with another mathematical software package Mathematica. Mathematica powers the “computational knowledge engine” WolframAlpha. Go on ask it a question!
Math.Stack Exchange
If you find yourself stuck and for some reason feel unable to ask me the question you could do worse than go to the excellent site math.stackexchange.com. If you are nice and polite, and show due deference to these principles you will find that your questions are answered promptly. For example this question explaining why we should be interested in being familiar with the 
Calculators
Although Assessment 1 is to be taken without the use of calculators, subsequent assessments will have no such ban. Please note the following taken from the CIT code of conduct for CIT examination candidates:
“Where a pocket calculator is used it must be silent, self-powered and non-programmable.
It may not be passed from one candidate to another. Instructions for its use may not be
brought into the Examination Hall.
The term ‘programmable’ includes any calculator that is capable of storing a sequence of
keystrokes that can be retrieved after the calculator is turned off or powers itself off. Note that the
capacity to recall, edit and replay previously executed calculations does not render a calculator
programmable, provided that this replay memory is automatically cleared when the calculator is
powered off. Also, the facility to store numbers in one or more memory locations does not render
a calculator programmable.
Calculators with any of the following mathematical features are prohibited:
• Graph plotting
• Equation solving
• Symbolic algebraic manipulation
• Numerical integration
• Numerical differentiation
• Matrix calculations
Calculators with any of the following features are prohibited
• Data Banks
• Dictionaries
• Language translators
• Text retrieval
• Capability of remote communication“
J.P. McCarthy: Math Page 
2 comments
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October 9, 2013 at 9:34 am
Student 47
Re: Where I lost marks on Assessment 1
Hello I asked about this in the tutorial today and you said to email you. I’m just curious on where I made mistakes. Thanks in advance.
October 9, 2013 at 9:40 am
J.P. McCarthy
You got 11/12 for 91.7% or 18.3 out of 20.
You got question 9 wrong:
Q.9: The angles in a triangle are in the ratio
. Find the angles in degrees.
Your answer: (c)
.
Correct Solution: Multiply the ratio by four to get in terms of whole numbers:
Now convert to proportional form, noting
:
The first angle is a quarter of
which is 
. (In terms of the assumption that one of the choices must be correct this makes the correct answer (d), otherwise…) Now the second angle is
Now the first two angles add up to
so the other angle must be 
,
The answer is (d).
Regards,
J.P.