Subject Code/Name: MATH1210 - Mathematical Discovery 1Workload: Two 2 hour lectures, and one 2 hour tutorial a week.
Assessment: 12 online quizzes (10%); 6 assignments (20%); mid-semester exam (20%); final exam (50%).
Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen captures. Various methods were chosen to capture, such as recording the front of the lecture theatre with a camera or writing on a tablet and screen capturing it.
Past exams available: Yes. The 2018 final exam was provided with solutions. A sample mid-semester exam was also provided with solutions, although it wasn't a past exam.
Textbook Recommendation: An extensive set of notes has been built up by the lectures over the years, so no textbook is provided; these notes are provided for free (and have beautiful formatting). There are some textbooks named in the course outline if you want more sample problems although these are not necessary.
Lecturer(s): Prof. Florian Breuer and Dr. Alejandra Garrido
Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1
Difficulty: 4-5 out of 5 (depends on how confident you are with math)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Comments: This course is designed to not show you how to do math, but instead to show you why the math works. It's very focused on the proofs of the theorems behind math. If you're doing a math degree (or just love math), then you should enjoy this course, especially when it proves the things skipped over in high school such as the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (Spoiler Alert: It's kind of disappointing how simple the proof actually is for something so important).
Note that this course is heavily linked to MATH1010 which runs simultaneously. MATH1010 has similar content although it focuses much less on on why the math works. While this course (MATH1210) is considered the hardest introductory math course at UON, the final exam contains content common to MATH1010 and MATH1210, and the MATH1210 marks are scaled up based on the performance of the MATH1210 students. This means that you aren't penalised for taking the "harder" course.
The course prerequisite is a Band 5 in 2 Unit HSC Mathematics or other equivalent merits within the university. It is recommended that you complete Extension 1 Mathematics. Extension 2 Mathematics is not a prerequisite or recommended, so you are fine to take this course if you did not do Extension 2. However, there is a fair bit of overlap with the Extension 2 course, so it is advantageous to do it.