Welcome

The notes have been prepared in a package called BookDown for RStudio so that the equations are accessible to screen readers. However, by providing the notes as a .html webpage I can also embed short videos to further describe some of the topics. Further you can download the questions and answers, (top left of the screen - down arrow) in a format that suits you (either pdf or epub) to view offline, or change the way this document appears (top left of the screen - A) for ease of reading.

There will be no powerpoint slides or lecture note pdfs provided for this course. All in class time will be spent on workshops, this is your opportunity to get help taylored to the places you need it.

If you spot any typos or think there are any errors please let me know and I will do my best to fix them.

The recommended text for this course is ‘Introduction to Contextual Maths in Chemistry’ by Dickinson (yes me) & McKinley. This is a library link and there is access to an online copy. (Fiona Dickinson and Andrew McKinley. Introduction to Contextual Maths in Chemistry. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2021. Print. Chemistry Student Guides ; No. 2.)

Workshops for CH10009

The course moves at quite a pace, this is in part because parts of the maths are needed very quickly in your physical chemistry studies. If you feel you aren’t keeping up please ask for help from me! I at the very least can point you in the direction of something, or can help you with your difficulties.

The whole point of this course is to make you comfortable with maths in a chemistry setting.

The topics for workshops each week are as follows:

  • Week 1: Rearranging equations, units and standard form
  • Week 2: Logarithms and exponentials
  • Week 3: Tables and graphs
  • Week 4: Calculus - differentiation - the basics and the chain rule
  • Week 5: Calculus - differentiation - the product rule and partial differentiation
  • Week 6: Calculus - integration - the basics and definite integrals
  • Week 7: Real, imagininary and complex numbers
  • Week 8: Some more revision questions

Report errors

If you spot any errors or areas of lack of clarity, please message me in Teams or preferably report on the error log below:

Version history

Version 1.3 in progress October 2022.

Version 1.2 in progress September 2021.

Version 1.1 in progress July 2021.

Version 1.0 complete December 2020.

The initial commit of this book is dated 2nd October 2020.