MTH1035: Techniques for Modelling (Advanced)

Exam: 60%, 2hr, 40% minimum
Lecture participation: 5%, must get over 75% of the lecture poll questions correct to get full marks
Applied class participation: 5%, must attend 8/12 classes during semester to get full marks
Assignments x2: 10% each

Honestly my favourite subject that I have done at uni. Burkard has such energy and passion in his teaching that he'll regularly has the lecture hall filled with laughter. His explanations of the content is unrivalled. Having said this, the unit is quite fast paced and hard to catch up in if you fall behind. Nevertheless, Burkard will try everything he can to ensure you pass. Even "hinting" at what will be on the exam.

Andy's additional 1035 content is also super engaging, some of it is dry but the majority is rich with interesting maths. From looking at super-rabbit populations to how Netflix recommends movies. Highly recommend if you enjoy maths and want to know how things work mathematically.

The difference between MTH1030 and MTH1035 is merely the content that Andy goes through and that there'll be two MTH1035 style questions on the exam. All other assessment is the same.

Overall, I'd suggest go into this if you did specialist maths in high school otherwise you'll most likely struggle coming from straight methods. But if you're a massive maths nerd and love it, you can do it.

Burkard Polster - MTH1030
Andy Hammerlindl - MTH1035

Yes, one. But Burkard supplied a lot of practice, exam questions

5 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture

Anton and Rorres,
Elementary Linear Algebra (Didn't buy)
Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals (I bought, used twice for extra homework questions)

Burkard supplies his own notes, two PDFs of the complete course. Andy for MTH1035 uploads all his content to Moodle.

3x 1 hour lectures for MTH1030 content (optional with online streaming)
1x 1 hour lecture for MTH1035 content
1x 2 hour applied class
Fairly high hours dedicated to study will be needed around the assignments

2019, Sem 1

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3 assignments, all 10%. 1 "mid semester test" worth 10%, you'll do it in about week 10 (yeah, 10/12 is about half-way) and finally the exam which was worth 60%. However, this exam will change to 70% from next year (as it will in all maths units. So glad I decided to do a double major...) Note: All assignments and the mid-sem test are material from MTH1030, and 80% of your exam is material from MTH1030. Only 20% of your exam is material from MTH1035.

Before you sign up for this subject, realise this: you are not good at maths. In all seriousness though, the biggest thing I learnt in this unit is that what you got in year 12 does not reflect how you will do at uni. Throughout the year, I was doing much better than people who did way better than me in year 12. If you struggle, this is normal, don't worry - this unit is very different. So, onto the actual course:

Linear Algebra
You start off with brief revision of year twelve - what's a vector, what can you do with a vector. Then you move on to some more things, including the cross-product. You'll look at vector spaces in R^n, even though you'll only do most of your calculations in R^3 and then just do some conceptual things in R^n. After you do this stuff, you'll look at how to make lines and planes, and this stuff is quite possibly the most annoying things you'll ever work with. You'll follow this with systems of linear equations, which is actually just extensions on methods stuff, believe it or not. Next is simple matrix stuff - arithmetic, determinants, inverses, that fun stuff, followed by using matrices to form linear transformations on vectors. You'll then move onto subspaces (generally focusing on R^4 for some reason...) and finally eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Those are funny words, and you won't know what they are until much later, don't worry about that. None of any of this is particularly hard if you do the tute sheets, so do the tute sheets, you'll be fine.

The only stuff you do in 1035 that really sticks out in this section is quaternions and tensors - neither of which ACTUALLY make sense. Simon will tell you which of these are on your exam, so when he tells you, do some reading and do the questions he gives you, and hopefully you'll pick up marks. If you do well on the assignments (which you should), you should be fine.

Calculus
When I say calculus, it's not calculus like you think calculus from high school. In fact, the elementary functions you remember from high school only really come up in the last week and a half.

You start off thinking about limits - how to compute some basic limits, some more annoying limits, and just sort of what a limit is. In the 1035 workshops, you'll also look at the epsilon-delta definition of a limit. Next up is determinate and indeterminate forms, and how we find an indeterminate form using L'Hopital's Rule. Then, you move on to sequences and series - yes, they're a thing. First you find how to work with sequences, then the more important series. You'll learn how to work with some general types - like telescoping, geometric, harmonic, etc. You'll learn how to find if a series converges, diverges, and a bunch of other things. This then leads into one of the bigger types of power series - Taylor series, and its special partner Maclaurin series. This stuff is actually really cool, and can be used to prove Euler's identity (which is how I chose my name ). After all this series stuff, you finally move on to integration. You'll learn integration by parts, finishing up your integrating techniques repertoire. Then, you'll learn a few more DE solving techniques - seperation of variables, the integrating factor and using eigenvalues to solve second order homogenous DEs, and that's the course.
Not really anything special in 1035 - Simon will tell you what's in the exam for 1035, just expect something hard, and hope you can do it when you get to the exam. I can tell you that for our calculus question, not very many could...

MTH1035 has two sections - MTH1030 material and MTH1035 material. MTH1030 material is taught in lecturers, my MTH1030 lecturer was Burkard Polster. Famous for being a mathemagician, juggling and lecturing with lightsabers. The MTH1035 lecturer is Simon Teague - famous for always having a coke zero with him (yes, this does include in his 8 am lectures). Burkard is amazing - I don't think it's possible to hate him. Simon's not as well loved, but I quite liked him. Preferences are preferences, so eh.

No, however a sample exam was made available to us.

4 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture for the lectures. Without for the workshops, however Simon will post up the boards, so you can see what was written anyway.

Kutler's linear algebra book, which is mentioned in the notes. It's absolutely FREE. I never used it, but hey, could be good? Also stewart's early transcendental's. I glanced through it, looks alright, not necessary though. It's also available from the library. I have heard it's necessary for MTH2015/MTH2010 if you plan to continue on to that, though, so it's up to you.

3x1 hour lectures, 1x1 hour tutes and 1x2 hour workshops (however, from next year Simon wants to change this to two hour tutes. This is already in place for MTH2015, which is the follow-on unit)

2014, Semester 1. Don't let the unit code or the MTH1030 parallels fool you - MTH1035 is ONLY offered in semester 1.

87 HD

3 x 10% Assignments, 10% Test and 60% exam (although I vaguely remember hearing this was set to change next year)

Initially I found this unit extremely daunting, in the 1035 workshops we almost immediately began working on cartesian tensors (which confused the hell out of me for months and have really only begun to understand them today!).
The workload for this unit is fairly consistently high, so expect to be doing plenty of practice questions, readings and such to gain a thorough understanding.

In saying that, the lecturer Burkard Polster is insanely good at explaining concepts in a very visual and layman's way which really makes all the coursework much more manageable to tackle. Prepare to watch him with a whole bunch of lightsabers too...(He also likes to juggle them sometimes ) Anyway back on topic, Simon taught us for the 1035 workshops and also had us for tutorials. Although he's usually late for them 8am workshop starts (=death), he has a real passion for the subjects and has millions of exam type questions if you want any extra stuff to do!

The assignments themselves aren't too bad (just really long and tedious). My main tip for them would be make friends in the unit and see if you can work together and collaborate answers (I do mean WORK TOGETHER not copy each others answers, but let's be honest, that will probably happen too). The test was fairly simple, pretty easy marks as long as you know your stuff!
Overall, if you love maths, pick this unit. But you will need to be dedicated and consistent to keep up to date and do well!

Burkard Polster (essentially the best lecturer you will have in the existence of anything!) and Simon Teague (Who is pretty great too)

No, but they did release a sample

4.5/5

Yes

Don't need a textbook

3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 hour tutorials and 2 hour workshops

Semester 1 2014

If I recall correctly, there were three assignments. There was nothing additional for MTH1035 though, 1035'ers just did the same assignments and the 1030 people. The first one being a massive project using vectors and a bit of linear algebra to finish designing a half build square. It had to be typed and every line of mathematics had to be justified with a sentence. Everyone hated the project and I feel sorry for those who must endure it again. The next one was a fairly straight forward answer Q's type assignment. Then the last one had three Q's, one wanted you to explain how matrix reflections related to some mirror image of the apple logo or something, then the last two were sort of proofs.

I did not enjoy the first or last assignments and did not feel like I benefited or learnt anything from them....the second assignment I leanred a great deal from.

It was a decent unit. Pretty much the last 'broad' maths unit before you start specializing in specific maths units in later years, eg Multivariable Calculus or Linear Algebra. Simon Teague takes the MTH1035 Workshops and tutes, he is a good teacher and will ofter go off on tangents about strange and interesting things in mathematics if he is asked by someone in class - which often happens in 1035.

The difference between MTH1030 and MTH1035 is the final exam has two or three out of the 10ish questions replaced with harder ones for 1035. So about 80% of the exam is 1035. Another difference is that in the workshops, you go a bit further into the proofs and mathematics.

The topics covered are:

• Linear algebra - Vectors, linear systems, matrix algebra, Gauss elimination, transformations with matrices, eigenvalues & eigenvectors. For the extra 1035 stuff we did - Vector spaces & Basis.
• Integration - Integration techniques, improper integrals. For 1035 we also did hyperbolic functions (Algebra and calculus of them).
• Sequences & Series.
• Ordinary differential Equations (ODE's) - First & second order ODEs along with coupled systems of ODEs.

Also, Simon has thousands of question sheets for MTH1035 exam questions which you can get from him leading up to the exam.

Heiko - Vectors, Linear Algebra, Calculus. Leo - Sequences & Series, ODEs. Both Heiko and Leo were very good at teaching their material and exceptional lectures.

Yes, there were a few with solutions. Leo did a sample exam in the last few lectures which he put up with solutions as well.

4 Out of 5

Yes I believe so, but I never used them.

Stewart Calculus: Early Transcendentals is the prescribed textbook, but in the beginning of the course they cover a lot of Linear Algebra with is not in Stewart, but is a vast chunk of the course. I just borrowed a book on Linear Algebra from the Hargave Library for this. If you plan on doing MTH2010/2015 - the next maths unit - then you should without a doubt get Stewart. Its contains a majority of the MTH1030/1035 course and is an excellent textbook with Q's & A's for every topic.

However, if you don't want to spend the money, you basically get a free textbook uploaded on Moodle written specifically for MTH1030. This is definitely sufficient in place of the textbook. But I would recommend Stewart if you want deeper a understanding and more questions.

The workload was pretty decent. You need to make sure you keep up to date for lectures, and put in the effort for the extra content in MTH1035 compared to MTH1030, but otherwise I would put MTH1035 learning curve about the same as specialist math learning curve. Sometimes you will need to go out to the library and borrow a random textbook to read up on something, but otherwise it's easily manageable for a dedicated student.

2013, semester 1