Maths necessary for Computer Science at NUI

CSundergrad

I'm a mature student returning to college after doing the leaving cert (ordinary) a few years ago, and am doing Computer Science at Maynooth in September. I'm wondering if anybody could fill me in on which areas of math would be necessary to study up on before September (e.g. Algebra, Q.Equations, Geometry, Trigonometry, Statistics, Calculus, Vectors etc), and as to which areas of math are unnecessary for the CS course.

Thank you.

cian1500ww

Concentrate on Calculus, Linear Algebra and Statistics (You won't be doing much of this but it's worth a look). Make sure you're good with differentiation and integration so that you'll pick it up easier. The first year is mainly just higher LC maths stuff.

gigawatt

first year maths breaks into four modules, first semester covers liner algebra (gaussian elemination and matrices) the exam is 45mins long with 3 questions, have a look at the exam papers and you'll get an idea of what you need to cover, the module code is mt101s. the 2nd semester of this is statistics.

the other modules are semester1 differential calculus and semester2 integration

I'm a mature student I studied science and i had computer science people in my class. the linear algebra and stats were grand but i found the calculus stuff difficult,
hope this helps!

pakb1ue

Here is the exam papers you will be sitting in 1st year. Only really difficult module I found was MT102S.
http://www.nuim.ie/cgi-bin/library/qsearch.cgi?mcode=mt101
http://www.nuim.ie/cgi-bin/library/qsearch.cgi?mcode=mt102
http://www.nuim.ie/cgi-bin/library/qsearch.cgi?mcode=mt111
http://www.nuim.ie/cgi-bin/library/qsearch.cgi?mcode=mt112

I did pass Maths for the LC (like a lot of people who do CS) and out of the 8 Maths modules I studied I only failed one.

You dont really appreciate the Maths you do until you get to 4th year and by then you have completely forgotten it.

Enjoy the next four years, feels like a lifetime ago that I was on here asking questions about the course and the college. Oh BTW 4th year is a bitch!

TouchingVirus

pakb1ue wrote: »

Oh BTW 4th year is a bitch!

Compared to the breeze that was 1st-3rd year - yes. Compared to other courses - no

eire2009

The maths support center is a god send .. Im good at maths but when your stuck it can save you hours of trial and error

siobhette

the maths people listed above is what you do in first year with any science degree or with computer science and soft ware engineer degree!!and u can drop it after first year in general science but if you are doing computer science and soft ware engineer u have to do two more modules in 2nd year!!but if you need a help with maths i am doing pure mathematics and have tutored first years last year!!

WhiskeyGoblin

Would doing this course with Ordinary maths be hell?

LeixlipRed

Not if you're willing to work hard it won't be. The maths dept has a lot of supports in place for undergrads, you'll find out about them during orientation. Just seek help if you're struggling, that's my one piece of advice.

pakb1ue

marko93 wrote: »

Would doing this course with Ordinary maths be hell?

If you had done Higher Level Maths for the LC it would be very helpful to you but there is a lot people who do Ordinary Level and for my year they gotten rid of QM (which is the level below Standard Level Maths [that what the 'S' stand for at the end of the module code]) and there was up roar (well on Moodle there was) about it so one of the lectures did a survey about it and found that the result gotten in the assignment by students who did HL and OL for the LC were pretty much the same. Though in saying that we did all copy each others assignments so kinda disproves it.

But I did OL for the LC and got 2.2's (50-59) in Maths but I did have to work hard at it and my house mate studying pure Maths did kinda of help as well.

Also YouTube is a great way to learn Maths

WhiskeyGoblin

Thanks for the help think i'll do the Science with Computer Science thanks again...

LeixlipRed

pakb1ue wrote: »

If you had done Higher Level Maths for the LC it would be very helpful to you but there is a lot people who do Ordinary Level and for my year they gotten rid of QM (which is the level below Standard Level Maths [that what the 'S' stand for at the end of the module code]) and there was up roar (well on Moodle there was) about it so one of the lectures did a survey about it and found that the result gotten in the assignment by students who did HL and OL for the LC were pretty much the same. Though in saying that we did all copy each others assignments so kinda disproves it.

But I did OL for the LC and got 2.2's (50-59) in Maths but I did have to work hard at it and my house mate studying pure Maths did kinda of help as well.

Also YouTube is a great way to learn Maths

The S stands for Science.

mp3guy

LeixlipRed wrote: »

The S stands for Science.

http://www.kontraband.com/videos/5173/Family-Guy-Skywalker-Sandbagging/

pakb1ue

LeixlipRed wrote: »

The S stands for Science.

Is it? I thought it was S for Standard, P for Pure and then A for Arts but I guess that does make a bit more sense.

mp3guy

pakb1ue wrote: »

Is it? I thought it was S for Standard, P for Pure and then A for Arts but I guess that does make a bit more sense.

P is for Puh-lease, as if I'm doing that module.

LeixlipRed

pakb1ue wrote: »

Is it? I thought it was S for Standard, P for Pure and then A for Arts but I guess that does make a bit more sense.

To be honest it doesn't really stand for anything but the S and A differentiate courses that have the same content but are taught separately to Science and Arts students.