Comparison of Maths Ext 2 books (1 Viewer)

[jyu]

The above discussions beg for an answer to the following question:

Are students deriving real benefits from this forum?

 

[acmilan]

Speaking from doing advanced uni maths, numerical solutions are fine in my opinion, often they'll help give you an idea of where you're going wrong/what to do, without actually solving it for you. I never consult fully worked solutions though, even if i think theres no chance of getting the answer. Sometimes i wait weeks, or months, without retrying the question, and somehow the solution becomes evident. Only time i consult full solutions is to learn other methods of answering questions. I'm not that great at memorising, if i look at someone elses solutions, i will almost always not be able to reproduce it in an exam situation.

 

[Templar]

"The best solution is the one that you found by yourself"

 

[nichhhole]

Sydney boys use CAmbridge....

*rushes out to get cambridge!!*

PLay the game! sure, you could stick to ur own books and hope that by the time u reach the HSC you've learnt all ur stuff well enough to adapt to any question...
OR
you could do a wide range of questions from a wide range of texts and learn how to do things a variety of ways..
of course we dont have enough time to learn EVERY method, but practice makes perfect...
ive got 6 different books for ext 2 maths...
im not going to get through all the questions.. but whenever i have spare time ill just flcik through and do what i can.

its better to learn how to adapt your knowledge to differnt types of questions now, as opposed to having to learn how to do it in a HSC exam. [esp considering how short of time we are...]


goodluck :]

[p.s i love ext 2... much MUCH more than math or ext 1... circle geo *shuddes* so tedious..]

 

[Trebla]

[p.s i love ext 2... much MUCH more than math or ext 1... circle geo *shuddes* so tedious..]

LOL, Circle Geometry is part of the Extension 2 course within the Harder 3 unit topic. So you'll encounter harder Circle Geometry in Extension 2...

 

[Shortbreads]

Circle geometry makes me cry too.

ZOMG! There's a spam smily!



Sorry, I was looking for a crying one... Anyway...

To me the most important thing for senior maths is understanding. Formulae and methods are tools, useful and necessary, but you've still gotta know how to apply them. Whenever I help out friends with two or three unit work what stands out as the problem isn't that they don't know their formulae but that they don't see how they should be applied, even on some diagnostic questions. As corny as this sounds you've gotta find the true spirit of Christmas maths, and often that means doing it the hard way. If you understand it, but still don't get the right numerical answer, to me, that's better than getting the right answer but not knowing why.

As someone said earlier often it takes longer to get started that way, but in the end it pays off.

Besides, nothing feels better than spending an hour on the one question before bed, getting nowhere, only to wake up the next morning with the answer in your head. Now that's joy.

Do it the long way, it'll make you a better person. I promise. It's like a journey...

 

[is2SWaNz]

I couldn't work out two questions from cambridge, took me a day to ponder. Walking around the house, playing a few games and working in other maths and physics textbooks.. and then it hit me.

I feel soo happy when i work something out by myself! :thumbsu:

 

[bos1234]

buchanan. EVERY 4 unit student would LOVE to do it your way. By trying to solve it by themselves, trying and trying again UNTIL it is solved. UNFORTUNATELY BOARD OF STUDIES does not permit us to do so. Our school goes so fast when doing the 4 unit topics because there IS NO TIME. There is no time to think and ponder. Try once, try again and suddenly.... HSC

What the board of studies should do is spread the curriculum over the 5 years of schooling. What maths did we do from year 7-10. Nothing. Just adding 5 plus 5 and factorising a + ab.

good day to you sir and goodbye

 

[AWEBB]

Hey Guys,

Im currently using the cambridge 4u book, Arnold. Very good book. However it did take some getting used to in respect to the jumps taken in worked examples. However answers to examples are very good and it is evident the authors are in the top of their field.
The Coroneos book is quite good, but i believe does not cover all material, however i do not have the supplement text.

Anthony

 

[karnoganguli]

What about learning concepts? Fitzpatrick? I personally cannot learn from cambridge but i do the questions.

 

[Evergreen]

what textbook is best for explaining theory? i heard terry lee has great questions but the theory is not very good. cambridge, fitz or what is good for theory and has good questions? also is excel guide for 4unit good as well?

edit: should i just go out and buy all good textbooks?

 

[totallybord]

so whats the difference between the different editions of terry lee's books? is it just more correct answers or are there extra material and theory stuff?

 

[pLuvia]

More questions, fixing up of errors, more theory in some sections.

 

[powerdrive]

Cambridge for sure, fitzpatrick is weak and has no solutions.

 

[kaz1]

my maths teacher wrote the 4 unit cambridge book i saw her name on it

 

[Kujah]

Which Arnold?

 

[SoulSearcher]

Unless Graham is a girl's name, I would deduce that it was Denise.

 

[IMTB]

lol
according to my tutor terry lee is really good for challenging quesitons and later in the year when u r more ready
fitz is good for additional qusetions
but cambridge is the main one that goes from basic to challenging...and heaps of selectives use it as main textbook

 

[gm.haider3000]

Hi i do 4unit with cambridge but cant seem to find any diffculties with it .. can every 1 tell me how many people are in your class mine there is only 2 and possibly 3 ... and your subjects please thanks you

4unit maths 2unit english 2unit eco 2unit business studies

 

[frostysnow]

My school uses:
Fitzpatrick - but the teacher recommends that you MUST do more than this
Cambridge - i think some questions are hard but going through the numerous examples really help
Patel - i think this is supposed to be the hardest, but i think some of the stuff is beyond requirement