This would be a little too simplistic for any potential Methods students but it will give parents or friends (even if they are not very good with any sort of maths) a good concept of what Maths Methods covers.
Maths Methods covers, basically, 4 topics.
I’ll write them down here, but don’t worry, I’ll explain them in a way that anyone can understand!
- Algebra
- Graphs
- Calculus
- Probability
Topic 1: Algebra
Algebra is basically maths which uses letters which represent unknown numbers. For example, 1+x=3 . The unknown number is 2 because 1+2=3 . I have a cool video here that explains why is used so often in maths. Algebra gets quite advanced in Methods but this is the basic idea.
Topic 2: Graphs
A graph is just a visual representation of algebra and is a straight or curvy line. There are a whole bunch of graphs that students learn and there are different things they need to do with them and find out about them. The video to the left requires some basics knowledge of Math but it probably won't kill you to watch it 🙂
Topic 3: Calculus
The next topic is called calculus and the name itself seems to create fear in the hearts of everyone. It was invented in the 1600's and at the time was the latest way of calculating stuff (finding the answer), hence the name calculus. It basically just shows how steep a line is of a graph (the previous topic). I have a short 30 second video on this too!
Topic 4: Probability
The final topic is probability. We all have some concept of probability (like there’s a 50% chance that you’ll get Heads if you toss a coin) but in Year 12, it gets rather advanced. It in fact uses calculus in it, but again, less scary than it sounds. This topic also includes statistics, which is basically a way of getting information from large amounts of data.
That's the simplified explanation of Maths Methods!
Is this oversimplified? Yes, but hopefully it gives you some idea of what Maths Methods is about, even if you want to avoid numbers like the plague.
Disclaimer... Maths Methods is hard. The concepts are quite advanced compared to the previous years of schooling and the test questions, especially worded questions, can be very difficult. Please don't use this as a gauge of whether this is appropriate for a students to choose this subject. This explanation is purely to explain the subject to someone who has very little background in Math but would like to know what it's about.
If you are interested in whether you should study Maths Methods, check out this article.
I hope it's been of some help.
kind regards
Alex Bell
Creator of MathsMethods.com.au
