Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

The module is designed to raise student awareness and competence in mathematical and statistical operations such that they will be able to cope with the numeracy demands of an undergraduate business degree at Newcastle University or other UK HEI. It is also targeted at raising student awareness of the English nomenclature involved in mathematics and statistics at this level as many students will be mathematically competent but uncertain about the terminology/lexis used in a UK context. The module’s specific aims are:

•       To equip students with the skills in mathematics and statistics required for entry to a Business School programme at Newcastle University, roughly equivalent to grade B at GCSE.
•       To focus students on mathematical concepts and principles through English
•       To develop student independence in applying mathematical knowledge in preparation for research and project-related tasks

Outline Of Syllabus

•Basic number theory; handling percentages, area, volume, ratios.
•Introduction to Algebra; functions, linear and quadratic equations, solving equations, basic differentiation.
•Introduction to Graphs; gradients of lines, the relationship between equations and graphs, the use of graphs for the visualisation of data.
•Statistics and Probability; data collection, descriptive statistics (mean, mode, median, standard deviation and IQR). probability, discrete and continuous probability Distributions, correlation, and simple linear regression.
•The use of Excel to perform statistical analysis.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

•To apply basic number theory
•To describe how to set and solve equations.
•To explain how graphs can be used to represent data.
•To apply basic statistics and probability theory
•To understand the interpretation of commonly used descriptive statistics and graphs.

Intended Skill Outcomes

•To calculate fractions, percentages, and ratios
•To express problems in the form of algebraic symbols
•To solve linear and quadratic equations
•To create charts and graphs to represent data.
•To calculate the gradient of a graph line
•To calculate and interpret descriptive statistics (mean, mode, median, standard deviation and IQR)
•To assess probabilities from given data
•To be able to use Excel to calculate basic statistics and to create basic data visualisations.
•To fit a simple linear regression line through a set of data.
•To use a calculator for mathematical and statistical operations.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures are used to introduce concepts and techniques. In this area practice is crucially important, hence the number of seminar hours, which will be devoted largely to problem solving and practice in a safe and supervised atmosphere. Some of the seminar sessions should take place in a computer lab in order to allow students to use software packages to undertake analysis.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

End of semester exams will be used to check on students’ progress and understanding of topics. An exam at the end of Semester 1 provides an efficient way of testing the students’ mathematical skills at this foundation level. This will test their ability to perform calculations and solve problems using the methods covered in the module. This will also provide the students with feedback on how they are performing on the module. The end of semester 2 exam will give the students the opportunity to carry out data analysis and to provide interpretation of analysis results. The unseen exams at the end of each semester will help prepare the students for unseen examinations at university stage 1.

General Notes

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