Engineering Maths First-Aid Kit By Tony Croft
2000 | 168 Pages | ISBN: 0130874302 | PDF | 2 MB
A few words from the author . . .Over the past three years I have tried to offer mathematical support to many hundreds ofstudents in the early stages of their degree programmes in engineering.On many, many occasions I have found that gaps in mathematical knowledge impede progressboth in engineering mathematics and also in some of the engineering topics that the students arestudying. Sometimes these gaps arise because they have long-since forgotten basic techniques.Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, they seem to have never met certain fundamentals in theirprevious studies. Whatever the underlying reasons, the only practical remedy is to have availableresources which can quickly get to the heart of the problem, which can outline a technique orformula or important results, and, importantly, which students can take away with them. ThisEngineering Maths First-Aid Kit is my attempt at addressing this need.I am well aware that an approach such as this is not ideal. What many students need is aprolonged and structured course in basic mathematical techniques, when all the foundationscan be properly laid and there is time to practice and develop confidence. Piecemeal attemptsat helping a student do not really get to the root of the underlying problem. Nevertheless Isee this Kit as a realistic and practical damage-limitation exercise, which can provide sufficientsticking plaster to enable the student to continue with the other aspects of their studies whichare more important to them.I have used help leaflets similar to these in the Mathematics Learning Support Centre at Loughborough.They are particularly useful at busy times when I may have just a few minutes totry to help a student, and I would like to revise a topic briefly, and then provide a few simplepractice exercises. You should realise that these leaflets are not an attempt to put together acoherent course in engineering mathematics, they are not an attempt to replace a textbook, norare they intended to be comprehensive in their treatment of individual topics. They are what Isay - elements of a First-Aid kit.I hope that some of your students find that they ease the pain!Tony CroftDecember 1999