Where to find required reading and recommended resources. Textbooks and reading lists You may be required to purchase textbooks for some courses. Reading lists are normally found on the relevant course web pages. Other relevant books are usually available in at least one of the University's libraries. These may be given a special reserve status so may only be borrowed overnight or over a weekend. The library - borrowing books and other resources Using DiscoverEd to find books and resources Complementary books Note that many of these books can also be found on DiscoverEd "Bridging the Gap to University Mathematics" by Gould and Hurst This book runs through a lot of material on the borderline between school mathematics and university mathematics. It was written by two recently graduated students, and so the take on the material is rather different from what you might get from experienced lecturers. This is a great book to refer to if, for example, you were not introduced to complex numbers or matrices at school. Available from the University library in hard copy and eBook formats (current students only). Purchase "Bridging the Gap to University Mathematics" from Blackwells "How to Think Like a Mathematician, a Companion to Undergraduate Mathematics" by Kevin Houston The main point of this excellent book is to introduce the idea of Definitions, Theorems and Proofs and explains what they are and how to work with them. There is also a lot on the topic of how to write mathematics properly. Available from the University library in hard copy and eBook formats (current students only). Purchase "How to Think Like a Mathematician, a Companion to Undergraduate Mathematics" from Blackwells "How to Study for a Mathematics Degree" by Lara Alcock We recommend that our students start reading this during their first year, and refer back to various chapters at certain points throughout their degree. The chapters "Panic" and "(Not) Being the Best" have been particularly helpful to students around exam time. Available from the University library in hard copy and eBook formats (current students only). Purchase "How to Study for a Mathematics Degree" from Blackwells "Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction" by Timothy Gowers In this book, Gowers tries to explain in a non-technical way why we do mathematics and what it is really about. We recommend that all our new students read this before starting their maths degree. Purchase "Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction" from Blackwells Mathematics for a general audience These books, videos and podcasts are great for keeping your mind "ticking over" thinking about mathematics, but entertaining too. Also useful for referring your friends and relatives to when they ask "But what do you actually study for a Maths degree?" Ian Stewart's top 10 popular mathematics books Videos and web resources Effective revision [password protected] Slides from an effective revision presentation for Years 1 and 2 maths students (last delivered November 2018) What works, what doesn't This excellent Scientific American article is based on a metastudy of many different research studies into what study activities actually help to improve learning. It's a great idea to think carefully about this and apply it to your maths revision (and studying in general!) Khan Academy An excellent resource of video lectures on many topics in Mathematics. Particularly good for Linear Algebra. Wolfram Alpha A computational search engine. Good for quickly viewing graphs of functions or checking calculations. Math Tutor A little more basic than Khan Academy, still some useful video lectures on topics on the borderline between school and university Mathematics that you may need a refresher on. MIT OpenCourseware A bank of video lectures used in the teaching at MIT. PatrickJMT YouTube Many of our students tell us that these videos were useful accompaniments to our first-year maths courses. Stephen Crew YouTube The five short videos have been made by a psychologist who specialises in Cognitive Science - an expert in how we learn. They are intended for Psychology students but almost everything they say is directly applicable to Mathematics. The main difference is that as Mathematicians, doing exercises or problems is a huge part of our study and assessment processes. Math StackExchange A collaboratively edited question and answer site for people studying maths at any level. Note that questions that are obviously homework problems tend not be well received on the site. A Brief History of Mathematics More or Less: Behind the Stats BBC Radio 4 Podcasts. This article was published on 2025-02-26
