Mathematics for Astronomy

This module aims to provide astronomy students with a quantitative understanding of the mathematical concepts to provide a foundation for Level 5 study in astronomy. It will help you develop skills and confidence in some areas of mathematics covered in A level maths, and year 1 maths for physical sciences.

The module will include revision of basic concepts before moving on to more complex mathematical ideas, including calculus, statistics, probability ,and an introduction to fitting data. It will help develop students’ understanding of some statistical methods relevant to astronomy, enable students to solve elementary problems in maths and statistics, and apply the techniques to simple problems in astronomy.

• Croft, T. and Davison, R. (2020) Foundation maths. Seventh edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson. (available online through the UCLan Library).
• Abramson, J.A (ed) (2021), Algebra and Trigonometry 2E. OpenStax, Available at: https://openstax.org/details/books/algebra-and-trigonometry-2e
• Strang, G., and Herman, E. (eds) (2024), Calculus Vol 1-3, Open Stax, Available at: https://openstax.org/details/books/calculus-volume-1