School:Mathematics

Welcome to the School of Mathematics!
The Lorenz attractor is a chaotic map, noted for its butterfly shape. The map shows how the state of a dynamical system evolves over time in a complex, non-repeating pattern. The attractor itself, and the equations from which it is derived, were introduced by Edward Lorenz in 1963, who derived it from the simplified equations of convection rolls arising in the equations of the atmosphere.

Since you're here, you either are someone wishing to share your knowledge of Mathematics, or you are someone who wishes to gain knowledge about Mathematics. If you are the first kind of person, have a look around, and see how you can contribute. If you are of the second kind, read on!

Mathematics has many facets; though it has a wealth of applications, Mathematics is also a science, and an art, in its own right. Like other sciences, Mathematics is useful, but, just like other forms of art, Mathematics is beautiful, in its own unique way. You might not see this beauty at first, but the main goal of the Wikiversity School of Mathematics is to let you see this beauty, through inquiry and learning. To achieve this goal, we want to inspire you, since inspiration is essential to learning, discovery, and ultimately, seeing the beauty of Mathematics. A little bit of inspiration can put the beauty of Mathematics, and all its facets, before your eyes.

The School of Mathematics is a work in progress. We are trying to organize our material into a logical order, create new material, and revise existing material. Although we try to keep clarity in mind, if any of the material is confusing, you don't know where to start, or you have other questions, do not hesitate to pose your question at our help desk. There is no such thing as a "dumb question"; learning is driven by questions!

The School of Mathematics wishes you a very warm welcome. We hope that you will benefit from what we have to offer, and we hope that we will benefit from what you have to offer, either now or in the future.

Divisions and departments

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Divisions and Departments of the School exist on pages in "portal" name space. Start the name of departments with the "Portal:" prefix; departments reside in the Portal: namespace. Departments and divisions link to learning materials and learning projects. Divisions can link subdivisions or to departments. For more information on schools, divisions and departments look at the Naming Conventions.

To add additional Divisions or Departments within the School of Mathematics, edit the list of "Portal:" namespaces on the MathDeps Template.

Mathematics curriculum

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This Wikiversity School of Mathematics project aims to create a structured set of links to learning material and test questions for the mathematics curriculum. To start, the recently released Australian national senior secondary school curriculum is being used as a guide. It is possible to create a similar structure based on the curriculum of alternative educational systems, but copy some of the same links and material identified below. If you'd like to do this, please create another heading in this section. Alternatively, please feel free to contribute to the project based on the Australian structure. This structure is fairly generic.

Australian national senior secondary school mathematics curriculum

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These headings will provide links to pages detailing the senior secondary school mathematics curriculum. It will be used to identify material on Wikiversity and other Wikimedia sites that might be useful to students and their supporters. It will also help show the links between different areas of the curriculum and where studying mathematics might take them in the future; in other words, some possible answers to the eternal question, "why should I learn this?" and help show students the doors that will open to them by learning to see the world mathematically. The recently released Australian national senior secondary school mathematics curriculum will be used as a guide for this Wikiversity School of Mathematics project. (This material is based on the curriculum developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which states its curriculum material can be downloaded, copied, printed and communicated for personal or non-commercial purposes, including educational or organisational use under a Creative Commons licence: copyright information)

School news and current events

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Undergraduate-level study

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Study guides

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Not sure where to start? Consult the following guides to help you make a study plan and determine which prerequisites you might be missing.

Course categories

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Resources

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Lectures

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Video courses

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Wikibooks

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Wikipedia

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Free Software

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  • GNU Octave - A computational program similar to (and mostly compatible with) MATLAB
  • SciPy - A Python library for mathematical and scientific computing
  • Maxima - A computer algebra system
  • SINGULAR - A computer algebra system
  • GAP - A tool for computational group theory
  • R - A programming language designed for statistical computing
  • FreeMat - An open source Matlab clone
  • SAGE - A packaging of many of the above software tools and more
  • Pari/GP - "a computer algebra system with the main aim of facilitating number theory computations" (from Wikipedia)
  • Mathics Mathics is a free, general-purpose online computer algebra system featuring Mathematica-compatible syntax and functions.
  • See a full list along with some commercial tools at our mathematics software page.

Other

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Active participants

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The histories of Wikiversity pages indicate who are the active participants (listed below). If you are an active participant in this school, you can list your name here (this can help small schools grow and the participants communicate better; for large schools it is not needed).

Inactive participants

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International relations

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