SCI 111 Mathematical Ideas and Methods in Contexts

Content

Mathematics is the language used to grasp understanding of, to explore, and to gain
insight in any of the sciences; physics, chemistry, biology, and so forth, cannot be well
understood or appreciated without sufficient skills in mathematics. (This is the main
reason why this course is mandatory for Science majors.) A language such as English
is rich enough to describe and to explain a great many things in life, but it is not
exact enough to explain the consequences of, for instance, fundamental physical laws.
Mathematics, on the other hand, is an exact language with a unique meaning and with
well defined rules, which allow for exploring and explaining the world around us in a
quantitative manner. Mathematics is more than just a set of specific tricks with numbers
without any context or meaning, on the contrary, mathematics is the generalization of
many phenomena in nature and society that can be described and solved in the same
manner: the same equations have the same solutions. The aim of this introductory course
in the mathematics track is to learn basic widely-used mathematical techniques, such
as differentiation, various techniques for integration, complex numbers, differential and
difference equations, and matrix algebra. These techniques are put into context in projects
related to real situations in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, economy, sociology,
etc. In this course we will continue to construct knowledge on the mathematical basis
you have al ready founded.

Instructor

Dr. Ir. Richard van den Doel and Dr. Joseph Resovsky

Track

Mathematics

Period

Spring / 2012

Course Material

• CALCULUS, Concepts & Connections, Robert T. Smith and Roland B. Minton, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-282623-1

Additional Prerequisites

Advanced high school mathematics; knowledge, understanding and practical experience (from Wiskunde B12 or equivalent mathematics courses) is necessary to be successful in this course. Students with a deficiency in mathematics are strongly encouraged to prepare for this course in advance.

Required for

This course is required in order to take the following courses:

• SCI 121 Introduction to Physics and Chemistry
• SCI 211 Mathematical Methods
• SCI 212 Theory of Statistics and Data Analysis
• SCI 221 Electromagnetism
• SCI 312 Advanced Mathematics

This course is an alternative requirement for the following courses:

• SSC 262 Macroeconomic Theory and Policy
• SSC 263 Microeconomics & Behavior
• SSC 267 Intermediate Microeconomics
• SSC 366 Econometrics

This course is recommended for the following course:

• SCI 241 Earth System Science II
• SSC 367 Industrial Organization