Before you get here
A list of resources to get ready for your courses with basic knowledge in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Probably you realised when choosing your degree, that all the Undergraduate degrees in the School of Informatics have a large amount of mathematics both in the first year and throughout the degree programme.
Mathematics syllabus differ widely. For example, you may have done A-level Mathematics but the syllabus is different internationally and some students will have done Further Maths as well. Others of you may have studied Advanced Higher Mathematics but not completed all units. As a result, there may be gaps in your knowledge.
To help you prepare, here are some links to useful resources before the first semester which are all aimed at sixth-form/pre-university level. If you didn’t do some of these topics, didn’t really understand them or have simply forgotten them, you would find these resources valuable preparation for university level mathematics.
- A mp4 video introduction to vectors
- Cartesian components of vectors
- The scalar product
- The vector product
- Powerpoints and two videos with simple introduction to matrices, matrix addition, subtraction and multiplication
- Two videos on matrix transformations
- An introduction to set theory – Lecture Number 5 (start at 1min 26secs to skip review of previous lecture)
Introduction to functions:
Composition of functions:
Inverse of functions:
Good explanations of mathematical induction:
Here are some good little books for short introductions to Computer Science, AI and Big Data:
- 'Computer Science: A Very Short Introduction'
- 'Artificial Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction'
- 'Big Data: A Very Short Introduction'
'Logic: A Very Short Introduction' (for a more challenging read)
and some TED videos as an introduction to Cognitive Science:
Some Information for new students
Each Informatics student is assigned a personal tutor to support their learning and are supported by the Student Support Team and a student helpdesk called InfBase. There is a guide for new students in Informatics where you can find useful facts.
- More about personal tutors
- More about the Student Support team
- More about InfBase
- New students' handbook
- More about teaching in Informatics
Once semester has started you will find InfPals a great source of help for the first year. This is peer-assisted learning to support your studies.
Also, look out for the Programming Club which meets every week for a fun activity in programming: