Further Reading
- Significant (and insignificant) figures
- Scientific notation
- The idea of algebra: Unknowns and relationships
- Functions
- Values, change, and rates of change
- Trigonometry
- Probability
Mathematics Recap
Prerequisite
While all of you have had lots of math – from basic arithmetic through algebra, trig, calculus, and probability, the way math is typically done in a math course is very different from the way the math is actually used in science courses. In math, they rarely tell you why they do something or what it’s good for. This can make it hard to understand what math to reach for in thinking about a situation in science or to know what to do with it when you’ve finished a mathematical analysis.
In this section we briefly review the math you need to know for this class. In many cases, our approach may be different from what you have seen in math. We focus on the conceptual underpinnings of the math and explain how to use it to map to physical meaning.
Last Modified: May 27, 2019