An undergraduate Chemist will encounter the need to use calculus and algebra and in many cases matrices vectors series and expansions as well during their degree. At the School of Chemistry at Bristol University we admit a growing number of students who do not have A (AS or A2) level Mathematics but do have a GCSE. These students are required to take a course in the first year covering the Mathematics they require for undergraduate Chemistry.
The course is taught by members of the School of Chemistry and presented from the perspective of Chemistry. For example an important consideration in Chemistry is the determination of bond lengths and bond angles in a molecule. A lesson would begin by posing the problem of determining these parameters for a molecule given the coordinates of its constituent atoms. Working in groups these students soon provide methods for determining these parameters. Thus the topic of vectors is born. More complex ideas in vectors are subsequently presented in the context of Chemistry.
