1. Should I take a Mathematics course in my first year?
2. What Mathematics course should I take?
3. Calculus or Finite Math?
4. What is Mathematics 1090?
5. What is the Math 1090 lab?
6. Did High School prepare me for the study on University Mathematics?
7. What sort of problems am I likely to encounter in first- year Mathematics?
8. What help is available if I run into trouble?
9. I took Advanced Math in High School, and I want to registrar for Math 1090-is that a good idea?

The majority of MUN degree programs require students to complete one or more courses in mathematics; in many cases, this includes a requirement to do Math 1000 (Calculus I). Specifically, these requirements are as follows.

• any Bachelor of Arts program: if you do aSt. John’s BA, you are required to complete six credit hours (two courses) in the sciences; these could include (but don’t need to) courses in mathematics. At Grenfell College, at present there is a College core governing all degree programs in Arts and Science; part of this is a mathematics requirement.
• any Bachelor of Science program: you cannot do a B.Sc. without completing at least two courses in mathematics; typically, at MUN, you would do either Math 1090 and Math 1000, or Math 1000 and Math 1001. Depending on your Major, you might be required to do other mathematics courses as well. Many science programs also have a Statistics requirement.
• Education: if you plan to become a primary/elementary school teacher, you are required to do either Math 1050/1051 or Math 1000 or a concentration in mathematics.
• Medicine: most medical schools now require students to complete a Bachelor’s degree before applying to Med school. The preferred pre-med programs are science programs, which have a mathematics requirement.
• Nursing: if you’re thinking of a nursing career, you have to complete a BN degree. This has a statistics requirement (Stat 2500 or Stat 2550).
• Engineering and Applied Science: if you wish to go into engineering, you need to complete both Math 1000 and Math 1001.
• Pharmacy: to be admitted into the pharmacy program, you need to complete Math 1000.
• Business: you need to complete Math 1000 prior to admission into the Faculty of Business Administration.
• Social Work: there is no mathematics requirement.

....and what if you’re undecided at this time?

Many first year students really don’t know what area they wish to major in. This is quite normal, and if you are in this boat, you should choose your first year courses to provide a broad introduction to university studies. Since mathematics is required by the majority of University degree programs, you should definitely include mathematics in your first year. By doing so, you keep most of your possible options open.

 

Ok, so you’ve decided that you want to take a mathematics course in your first semester. So which course should it be? The answer to this depends on two factors: (1) your high school background, and (2) the kind of program you are interested in pursuing at University.

• If you did Academic Math in High School: in this case, you may register for either Math 1090 (Algebra and Trigonometry) or Math 1050 (Finite Mathematics). If you are interested in pursuing any Bachelor of Science degree program, or applying to one of the Professional Schools (Engineering, Business, etc) you will have to complete a Calculus course (Math 1000); in this case, you should register for Math 1090 which is the prerequisite for Math 1000. If you plan to go into Primary/Elementary Education, you should do Math 1050.
• If you did Advanced Math in High School: in this case, you are ready to register for Math 1000 (Calculus I). If your mark in Level III Advanced Math was 60% or less, you can still register for Math 1000, but you might wish to consider doing Math 1090 first, in order to strengthen your background in Mathematics.

What is the difference between Calculus (Math 1000) and Finite Math (Math 1050)?

• Calculus: The study of Calculus is divided naturally into Differential Calculus (Math 1000) and Integral Calculus (Math 1001). Differential Calculus is the systematic study of changing quantities while Integral Calculus systematically develops techniques for computing areas. In Math 1000, you will be taught techniques that will enable you to calculate the rate at which a function changes - this process is called differentiation. In Math 1001, you will learn how to compute the area under a curve given by an equation of the form y = f(x). Both of these subjects have very important applications in the sciences; it is for this reason that calculus is often called the language of science, and why the completion of at least one Calculus course is required by any Bachelor of Science program. The study of Calculus requires a good grounding in Algebra and Trigonometry.
• Finite Mathematics: Increasingly over the past few decades, especially as a result of the computer revolution, questions have emerged that require a different kind of mathematics for their solution. To give one example, if you are designing a new microchip, you will be interested in the most efficient way of designing your circuits. Obviously, there are only a finite number of possible solutions to such a problem, and you want to identify the best of these solutions. At the core of many of these kinds of problems lies a body of mathematical theory and technique - called Finite Mathematics - that is very useful, interesting and in many cases, quite elementary. In Math 1050, you will be introduced to some of the basic ideas of this fascinating branch of math.

Students who have completed Academic Math in High School lack some of the background information that is essential for success in Calculus. For this reason, MUN offers a pre-calculus course which is intended to fill these gaps. This is the course Math 1090 (Algebra and Trigonometry). Once you have completed Math 1090, you will normally continue on with Math 1000 in the next semester.

 

More than most other subjects, Mathematics builds on prior knowledge. To understand what you are learning today, you must have mastered what you learned in the past. Here a key word is mastery - it is important that you should be able to perform a certain set of basic skills automatically and correctly. Many students struggle with Math 1090 because they have not reached this level of mastery with many of the basic math skills in arithmetic and algebra. The lab component in Math 1090 is designed to strengthen these skills so that they become more automatic. During the Math 1090 labs, you will be working, both singly and in small groups, on focused sets of exercises that are designed to strengthen your mastery of these basic skills. The labs are a compulsory part of the course. 

 

The answer to this depends on the mathematics stream you took in High School.

• If you completed Level III Advanced Math: You are ready to tackle Calculus I (Math 1000) without too many problems. Some of you will also have completed some kind of Calculus Readiness course - and as that name implies, you will be ready to study Calculus. If your final mark in Level III Advanced Math was 60% or less, you need to ask yourself the reasons for this. Many students in this position are better off registering first for Math 1090. If you are in doubt about whether you should register directly for Math 1000, you should contact the Head of the Division of Science at the College to ask for advice.
• If you completed Level III Academic Math: The High School academic Math program was not designed to prepare you for university mathematics. Because of this, many of you will have some pretty major gaps in you background knowledge and understanding, and you will need to work hard in your first semester in order to bring yourself to a level where you can successfully tackle Calculus. Don’t let this discourage you - every year, many of you do just fine. However, if you have found high school math difficult, make sure that you commit yourself to putting in a solid effort when you start Math 1090. If you do, you will in all likelihood be successful; if you don’t, chances are that you will have a very difficult time. In many cases, you will find that you lack the necessary mastery of the basic arithmetic and algebraic skills.

Poor mastery of basic background skills is the biggest single reason why students in their first semester run into trouble. Your professors will assume that you have mastered the necessary knowledge that you were taught in your earlier years. However, we have found that many students are very unsure about things they learned as far back as junior high school and even earlier. Examples of common problem areas for many students include:

• all the various arithmetic manipulations with fractions
• poor understanding of radicals and exponents
• basic mistakes in order of operations
• mistakes in sign management
• weak algebraic skills - included in these are problems in factoring simple quadratic expressions, solving equations etc
• poor understanding of elementary trigonometry
• poor understanding of the properties of exponential and logarithmic function
• poor understanding of basic properties of functions

You will find that there is a lot of academic support available to help you start to bail when your academic boat springs a leak. The best news is that all of this extra help is free of charge. The best way to manage your academic life is to forestall problems before they arise. You can learn to become a successful student, and if you work at it, you will be successful. Here are some tips to guide you.

• make sure you attend all your classes. Skipping lectures is a sure-fire way to sow the seeds for future problems.
• put aside time every day to work on mathematics.
  • review your notes from the previous lecture; make sure you understand everything; work your way independently through any examples that were done
  • work on your weekly assignments
  • work on extra problems from the text; your weekly assignments are not intended to limit your activities, but instead should be taken as a guide for your additional work
  • read through the relevant sections in the text; work extra examples
    
• make sure you ask questions in class - you can be sure that if you are confused about something, then half your classmates will be confused as well. You will find that your professor will welcome questions. Make sure that you have tried to figure out your problem on your own first - you learn much more effectively if you discover things for yourself.
• see your professor outside of class-time to get help. You may need to make an appointment, although most of your profs will have posted office hours. When you go to a prof to ask for help, make sure you are prepared. Don’t simply go and say “Help! I don’t understand anything!” because this typically means that you have not done your share of the work. Also, don’t ask for direct help on your weekly assignments - if the assignments are well chosen, they are supposed to make you think. Finally, don’t only go to ask for help just before a test or exam - you will find that last-minute cramming is not a very effective way of learning at University.
• if you are registered for Math 1090, it is essential that you attend all the lab periods. They are a mandatory part of the course, and you will find that many of the concepts you have had trouble with in the past will become more transparent. However, all of this takes work and effort on your part.
• Many of the math courses have SI support. You would be very wise to attend as many SI sessions as possible. Experience has shown that students who participate in SI improve their marks by a letter grade.
• visit Ms. Kathleen Snow to get extra help - she is a full time LI in mathematics and she will be happy to help you. Her office is in AS317.
• visit the Learning Center. You will be able to get help either from the full-time Math Assistant, or from one of the Peer Tutors.

If you did Advanced Math, you are ready to tackle Calculus (Math 1000) in your first semester at University. This is, in fact, the natural next step for you to take. It may be that in addition to Advanced Math, you also completed a Precalculus course - and you may still be worried about registering directly for Calculus. You should only consider registering for Math 1090 if your mark in Advanced Math was 60% or less and even then, you should perhaps first get some advice - in this case, contact the Head of the Division of Science.

You may feel a bit scared of tackling Calculus in your first semester. You should not feel this way - Math 1000 is a nicely structure course, with a logical flow that takes each topic naturally into the next topic. It should encourage you to know that Math 1000 is one of the few courses at University in which you can actually end up with a final mark of 100%!

You might think that by taking Math 1090, you will make the transition problems in your first semester a bit easier. While there may be some truth to this (at least in some cases), please understand that there is no guarantee that you will do better at Math 1090 than you would do at Math 1000.

Make sure that your decision also take into account the kind of degree program you are interested in pursuing. Many University programs require that you complete at least Math 1000 (and some require the completion of Math 1001 as well). There are a number of courses that have Math 1000 as a prerequisite. Given these facts, it may turn out that your decision to register for Math 1090 in your first semester will put you behind, possibly requiring you to spend another semester or another year at University.

Important note: if you are planning to apply to the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, you must have completed Math 1001 prior to your being promoted into Term 1 of that Faculty. Since Engineering only accepts students into their program in the Fall of any given year, it is important that you understand the implications of registering for Math 1090 in the Fall of your first year. In order to go into Engineering in your second year, you will need to complete Math 1000 in the Winter semester, and then register for Math 1001 during the Intersession semester.