What is ATAR Mathematics Specialist all about?
Mathematics specialist is an ATAR course which must be selected in conjunction with Mathematical Methods. The Specialist course provides opportunities beyond those presented in Methods course, to develop rigorous mathematical arguments and proofs, and to use mathematical models more extensively.
The course contains topics in functions and calculus that build on and deepen the ideas presented in Methods course. The Specialist course extends understanding of statistics and introduces the topics of vectors, complex numbers and matrices.
Who should select these units in Year 11?
Students wanting to select Mathematics Specialist will need to have successfully passed the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) in Year 10 or prequalified by achieving Band 8 or higher in the Year 9 NAPLAN.
Recommended that students have achieved an A Year 10 Mathematics and have considerable algebraic understanding and skills.
You should select this course
- You want to use Mathematics Specialist as a University entrance course.
- Mathematics Specialist is a prerequisite for a course you wish to study at university
- If you have a strong interest in mathematics, including those intending to study mathematics, statistics, all sciences and associated fi elds, economics or engineering at university.
Pathway
Year 12 – Mathematics Specialist – ATAR
Course Code ATMAM
Areas of Study
Unit 1
Involves developing mathematical arguments, Euclidean Geometry, vectors and complex numbers. The topic Combinatorics provides techniques that are useful in many areas of mathematics, including probability and algebra. The topic Vectors in the Plane provides perspectives on working in two dimensions.
Unit 2
Matrices provide new perspectives in two-dimensional space and Real and Complex Numbers provides a continuation of the study of numbers. The topic Trigonometry contains techniques used in Methods. All topics develop students’ abilities to construct mathematical arguments. The technique of proof by the principle of mathematical induction is introduced.
To provide for different learning styles a variety of assessment tasks are used. For each course of study tasks are selected from:
- Response (tests)
- Investigations
- Examinations
What is ATAR Mathematics Specialist all about?
Mathematics Specialist is an ATAR course which must be selected in conjunction with Mathematical Methods. The Specialist course provides opportunities beyond those presented in the Methods course, to develop rigorous mathematical arguments and proofs, and to use mathematical and statistical models more extensively. The course contains topics in functions and calculus that build on and deepen the ideas presented in the Methods course. The Specialist course extends understanding of statistics and introduces the topics of vectors, complex numbers and matrices.
Who should select these units in Year 12?
It is recommended that students studying Unit 3 and Unit 4 have successfully completed Mathematics Specialist Unit 1 and Unit 2. An understanding of the Year 11 content is assumed knowledge for students in Year 12.
You should select this course if
- You want to use Mathematics Specialist as a University entrance course.
- Mathematics Specialist is a prerequisite for a course you wish to study at university
- You have a strong interest in mathematics, including those intending to study mathematics, statistics, all sciences and associated fields, economics or engineering at university.
Areas of Study
Unit 3 –
The study of complex numbers is extended to the polar form. The study of functions and techniques of calculus begun in the Mathematics Methods ATAR course is extended and utilised in the sketching of graphs and the solution of problems involving integration. The study of vectors begun in Unit 1, which focused on vectors in one and two-dimensional space, is extended in Unit 3 to three-dimensional vectors, vector equations and vector calculus, with the latter building on students’ knowledge of calculus from the Mathematics Methods ATAR course. Cartesian and vector equations, together with equations of planes, enables students to solve geometric problems and to solve problems involving motion in three-dimensional space.
Unit 4 –
In this unit, the study of differentiation and integration of functions is continued, and the techniques developed from this and previous topics in calculus are applied to the area of simple differential equations, in particular in biology and kinematics. These topics serve to demonstrate the applicability of the mathematics learnt throughout this course. Also in this unit, all of the students’ previous experience in statistics is drawn together in the study of the distribution of sample means. This is a topic that demonstrates the utility and power of statistics.
To provide for different learning styles a variety of assessment tasks are used. For each course of study tasks are selected from:
- Response (tests)
- Investigations
- Examinations
