Mathematics preliminary course

Mathematics preliminary course: an active start to university studies

For all Bachelor students of the CS department

Dear new students,

From 4 September to 2 October, the Department of Applied Computer Science is offering a preliminary course in mathematics for all Bachelor's students. If you would like to close a knowledge gap or refresh your mathematics skills, we recommend this preliminary course.

The preliminary course is voluntary, but we recommend attendance as the contents of the preliminary course will be a condition of your university studies. Learning together and getting to know your future fellow students are positive side effects of the course.

WHY TAKE PART?
Lecturer: Torsten Schreiber

Your situation from my point of view:
I have been teaching mathematics for over 20 years now and based on this experience, I know that most students have stopped thinking - mathematically - by the 7th grade.
This is when the calculator was introduced in school and thus topics such as fractions have become irrelevant.

You probably only know the logarithm as a key called "LOG" and terms such as polynomial division, distributive law and growth function are more likely to give you a headache than anything you can do with them.

If I am right with these assumptions, then the mathematics preliminary course is just right for you! Because we will cover the topics slowly and in detail, which are assumed to be known in university studies.

Torsten Schreiber

Date

SUMMER SEMESTER
When: 16 to 27 March 2026, Monday - Friday
Duration: 16.00 - 20.00
Room: 46.107
Please make a binding reservation.

WINTER SEMESTER
When: Beginning of September to beginning of October 2026, Monday- Friday; in the afternoon
Duration: 4 weeks
Organisation: Group 1: 1.00 - 4.15 pm, Group 2: 4.30 - 7.45 pm
Room: 46.107
The course is organised in two groups. Please make a binding reservation.

Registration

Registration is possible until 16 March 2026 . To do this, choose the preliminary maths course on our e-learning platform moodle and reserve your place.
To be able to register via moodle , you will need your fd number and the corresponding password. You will receive your fd number with your enrolment documents.

REGISTER NOW

Organisation

Course instructor: Torsten Schreiber
Contact: schreiber(at)mathematik-guru.de

You will receive the course materials from Torsten Schreiber and they are available in the moodle course.

Topics

  • Set theory
    You will learn which objects a set passes and how they are defined. You will also learn about the meaning and syntax of common special characters and find out a lot about intervals, tuples and the modulo operation.
  • Sets of numbers -> complex numbers
    How can you take the square root of a negative number?
    To do this, we need the complex number set. So you will learn the definition as well as how to calculate with complex numbers.
  • Propositional logic
    Here you will not only learn when we are talking about a proposition, but also what you can do in the world of Booleans. In addition to the operators, you will also learn about the method of truth tables and their application to factual tasks.
  • Arithmetic
    You will learn how to work with equations and polynomials and how to interpret them graphically. This includes the binomial formulae and Pascal's triangle.
  • Powers and exponential expressions
    A power expression is a variable that has a number in the exponent. You will learn what types of exponents exist and what they mean, as well as how to calculate effectively with power expressions.
  • Logarithm:
    If there is a variable in the exponent, you need the logarithm to be able to resolve it. You will learn what types of logarithms exist, how to use them and what the graphs of the different functions look like.
  • Equations
    There are many equations with one unknown.
    This can be a pure linear equation, a root equation or even a polynomial of degree n. In the case of a quadratic or bi-quadratic equation, you will learn about the quadratic addition, the p-q formula and Vieta's theorem as solution methods.
  • Inequalities
    In addition to simple inequalities and their laws, we will also look at absolute value and fractional inequalities. In order to solve such inequalities, you will learn about the FREPL method.
  • Systems of equations
    Here you will learn when we speak of a system of linear equations and, in addition to the graphical solution, you will also learn the common methods of substitution, equation and addition. We will also introduce the so-called Gaussian elimination method.
  • Trigonometry
    Among other things, you will understand how the sine and cosine are related to the unit circle and how the sine and cosine theorem works for right-angled and non-right-angled triangles.
    We will also look at the addition theorems and thus describe a trigonometric function using the period, amplitude and symmetry property.
  • Vectors
    Here we define the vector space with all possible operators and also explain their properties such as length, angle and linear dependence.
    As a typical area of application, I will also show you the linear equation and how to calculate the reciprocal position.

As you can see, there are many interesting topics listed there where you will certainly need a little help here and there.