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How to prepare for studying Mathematics
You have finished high school, have been admitted to study
Mathematics at Jacobs University, and wonder what you can do over
the summer to smooth your start into university mathematics. Here
are a few suggestions for things you can do to bridge the long gap
between your high school exam and the start of the university
semester.Revise
- Have a second look at everything you did at high school
- Can you reliably manipulate algebraic expressions?
- Can you find at least two independent explanations for every
concept? E.g., one that is geometric/graphical, one that is
algebraic/formal?
- Can you prove the main mathematical theorems you know?
What are the assumptions, what other results does the argument
depend on? You high-school text books may or may not do a good job
in this department - start to look beyond!
Read
Work problems
- Working problems is the most important skill and pastime of
a mathematician
- The NRICH project has a collection of beautiful
mini-projects - try the pure as well as the applied mathematics
collection, both cover important aspects of the mind-set and
skill-set of a mathematician.
Further links
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