This website is for students following the M.Sc. programme in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. It provides a quick revision in basic maths.
Many students find that by the time they get to our M.Sc. programme their school maths is a dim memory and they have difficulty with some modules as a result. This webpage is for you to revise your basic maths in as easy and straighforward a way as we can devise.
First, try testing yourself with this short test.
Check your answers against the correct answers.
There is a series of topics. We suggest that you work through them all, but take your time and don't try to rush them.
If you get stuck with any of this, get help.
York Health Sciences students should ask Martin Bland.
Also, I may have made a mistake, or not been clear.
Check with me at
mb55@york.ac.uk
(York Health Sciences students only).
If you come across any mathematical idea in our modules with which the lecturer assumed you
were familiar, which was not explained in the module, and is not covered here,
please let me know.
I can then include it.
This web page was inspired by Catchup Maths and Stats for the Life and Medical Sciences by Harris, Taylor, and Taylor, published by Scion, 2005, ISBN 1 904842 11 9. If you think you need more practice, this book is recommended. We also recommend Foundation Maths (3rd ed) by Croft and Davison, published by Prentice Hall, 2006, ISBN 0131979213. Both these books cover a lot more material than these web pages and would provide useful references.
Practice is very important in maths. If we practice, we can carry out manipulations like cancelling much more surely and quickly. If you are following a module which has an exam which involves mathematics, such as Epidemiology, you should practice. Get as many past papers as you can and do them. Then do them again. It will make the actual exam much easier and enable you to concentrate on the epidemiology rather than the calculations.
Martin Bland
October 2007.
To Martin Bland's M.Sc. index.
This page maintained by Martin Bland.
Last updated: 10 January, 2012.