Maths For Science

Contents

Maths for Science
This document, which was produced on 5th October 2003, is intended for evaluation purposes only. It is not a complete copy of Maths for Science. It contains Chapters 1 to 4 and the Glossary.

Back

1

Contents

Contents
Introduction 1 Starting Points 1.1 Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Different types of number . . . . 1.1.2 Calculating with negative numbers 1.1.3 Working with negative numbers on a calculator . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.4 The number zero . . . . . . . . 1.2 Fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Using fractions . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Adding and subtracting fractions 1.2.3 Manipulating fractions . . . . . 1.2.4 Multiplying fractions . . . . . . 1.2.5 Dividing fractions . . . . . . . . 1.3 Powers, reciprocals and roots . . . . Back 5 7 8 9 14 19 22 23 23 26 30 32 34 38 Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multiplying and dividing with powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 Powers of powers . . . . . . . . 1.3.4 Roots and fractional exponents . 1.4 Doing calculations in the right order 1.5 Learning outcomes for Chapter 1 . . 2 Measurement in Science 2.1 Large quantities and small quantities 2.2 Units of measurement . . . . . . . . 2.3 Scales of measurement . . . . . . . 2.3.1 Logarithmic scales in practice . 2.4 How precise are the measurements? 2.5 Learning outcomes for Chapter 2 . . 1.3.1 1.3.2 38 44 47 49 52 57 58 59 65 74 80 83 89 2

Contents 3 Calculating in Science 3.1 Calculating area; thinking about units and significant figures . . . . . 3.1.1 Units in calculations . . . . . . 3.1.2 Significant figures and rounding in calculations . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Calculating in scientific notation . . 3.2.1 Calculating in scientific notation without a calculator . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Using a calculator for scientific notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Estimating answers . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Unit conversions . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Converting units of area . . . . . 3.4.2 Converting units of...