Notice Board for my MST 121 and MS 221 students

15 February 2012	At Saturday’s MST121 2011 J day school we will go through the 2011 B presentation of TMA03.

15 February 2012	I have marked and returned all the MS221 TMA 02 scripts that I have received so far – so theoretically you should have them back the day after the cut-off date.

09 February 2012	A big thank you to all those students who braved the Arctic conditions and turned up at tonight’s tutorial. Hopefully, it was worthwhile and you all arrived home safely.

06 February 2012	Unless anyone requests otherwise, at the MST121 B tutorial on Thursday I intend to do part 1 of last years TMA01. Then, if there is any time left, I will go over some of the trickier algebra from A0.

01 February 2012	At tomorrow night’s tutorial we will initially take a look at an old TMA question from B3. This should not take too long, and we will use the remaining time to preview C1. The worksheet that we will use can be downloaded here. If any MST121 students are planning to attend, please note that the MS221 C1 preview will be totally meaningless to you unless you have studied C1 of MST121 first.

27 January 2012	Welcome to all of my students undertaking the 2012B presentation of MST121. Apologies for not contacting you earlier, but I only received notification of your details from the OU yesterday evening. By now you should all have received your welcome emails and, if you are reading this, the tutorial dates are also available on this website. Please use these in preference to those given by the OU on your Student Home page.

17 January 2012	As we have already devoted a considerable amount of time to Block B and its associated TMA questions, several students have asked if we can use this Thursday’s tutorial to preview Block C. Sensibly, we will only look at C1, and so if you are able to attend you will get more from the session if you can find the time to look through this unit beforehand. You can download the worksheet that we will use here.

09 January 2012	At this weeks MS 221 tutorial we will do the first few questions of an old TMA, which we will now be able to complete at the tutorial below – well before the cut-off date.

09 January 2012	By popular request, please note that the MS 221 tutorial on the 16 Feb has been changed to 2 February (same time and venue).

04 January 2012	A happy new year to all my students. At tomorrow night’s MST121 tutorial we will work through the B3 questions from a carefully selected previous TMA – a nice belated Christmas present for those who attend.

07 December 2011	At tomorrow night’s MST121 tutorial we will initially revisit question 2 (b) of last years TMA, and then take a look at the matrices from B2. We will save the B3 work until after Christmas.

29 November 2011	At Thursday’s MST121 11J tutorial we will go through questions 1 and 2 from last years TMA. These are both based on B1, and you will derive the maximum benefit if you have studied this unit prior to the tutorial.

24 November 2011	As previously noted, at tonight’s MS221 tutorial we will do the remaining questions from last years TMA.

24 November 2011	I have marked and returned all the MST121 J presentation TMA 01’s that I have received – including the two which were hand delivered late last night – and so (theoretically) you should receive your marked scripts back no later than Saturday morning.

08 November 2011	Unless anyone requests otherwise, at the MST121 J tutorial on Thursday I intend to do part 2 of last years TMA01. Please remember when submitting this assignment that this is the one and only time that you do not need to include a PT3 form. You must, however, ensure that your work is clearly labelled with your name and personal identifier.

02 November 2011	I would like to extend a hearty welcome to all my MS221 2011 J students and at the same time take the opportunity to remind you that the first tutorial will be held on Thursday 3^rd November at 7:20 at the Lower Mounts Campus of Northampton College. Unless anyone has any special requests I intend to do questions 1 to 4 from the 2011 B TMA. You will find that these are virtually identical to this years, and we will do the remaining questions at the tutorial on 24^th November.

02 November 2011	If anyone is interested in integer sequences, I have added comments to a further 30 or so sequences in the OEIS in the last few weeks – with an additional 30 or so scheduled for upload by the end of the month. The sequences that I have written can be found here, those that I have commented on are here and those that I have corrected are here.

01 November 2011	I have just returned from holiday, and have marked and returned all the MST121 TMA01 part ones. These were posted first class on Sunday, and so you should all receive your marked scripts back in Tuesday’s post.

20 October 2011	As promised, I have marked and returned all the MST121 2011J TMA01 part ones that I have received to date. As we discussed at the last tutorial, however, if you haven’t yet submitted it you will not receive it back until the middle of the first week of November.

15 October 2011	Best wishes to all my MS221 students in your exam.

28 September 2011	I have marked and returned all the MS221 TMA04 assignments and so now it is time to prepare for your exam (which is less than three weeks away). To help you with this we will do the June 2009 paper at next Saturday’s day school, and I have emailed all of my students a copy of this. You will obtain the greatest benefit from the day if you have worked your way through it beforehand and you bring your solutions along with you. Please do not forget, as I will only bring six spare copies with me.

26 September 2011	Can I also take this opportunity to remind you to include a completed, signed and dated PT3 form with every TMA, including the preparatory TMA 10 for MST121. I am unable to mark any assignments that do not have this form attached as the OU will be unable to process them and credit you with the marks. The regional code is 05.

26 September 2011	Welcome to all of my students undertaking the 2011J presentations of MST121 and MS221. Apologies for not contacting you earlier, but I only received notification of your details from the OU late yesterday. By now you should all have received your welcome emails and the tutorial dates are also available here. Please use these in preference to those given by the OU on your Student Home page.

20 September 2011	Can I remind you all that the cut off date for TMA04 on the MST121 2011B presentation is 21 September, and that the OU do not allow any extensions on this assignment whatsoever. Consequently, this TMA must be in my possession no later than midnight on the 21 September or you will fail the course.

14 September 2011	At tomorrow’s MS221 tutorial we will go through last years TMA04.

08 September 2011	I have posted the tutorial dates and times for the 2011J tutorials on this web site – all I need now is for the OU to advise me who my students are.

08 September 2011	I hope everyone enjoyed their summer holidays and have adequately prepared for Saturday’s MST121 day school. We will do some previous TMA04 questions, as near to this years as I can find, and put particular emphasis on question 3 (by special request of several students).

13 July 2011	Time permitting, at tomorrow night’s MS221 tutorial we will go through all the questions from last years TMA.

06 July 2011	Whilst the calculus is (hopefully) still fresh in your minds, we will take a look at question 3 from a previous TMA04 at tomorrow’s tutorial.

06 July 2011	I have marked and returned all the MST2011 B presentation TMA 03’s that I have received so far – including the two which were hand delivered this morning – and so (theoretically) you should receive your marked scripts back no later than two days after the cut-off date.

16 June 2011	Just to confirm, I will take the morning session (10:30-12:30) of the day school for MST121 11B on Saturday 18 June and go through the C1 and C2 questions from one of last years TMA’s. In the afternoon, Dr. Ekins will come down from Nottingham and preview the differential equations from C3. Hopefully the day will be well attended, as there are no more tutorials before the TMA cut-off date.

16 June 2011	I have marked and returned all the MS221 assignments that were due in yesterday, so you should get your marked scripts back by the weekend.

28 May 2011	If anyone is interested in magic squares, you might find the following article of some interest. To summarise, no 3x3 magic squares are known in which all the entries are square numbers, and it is widely believed that no such square actually exists. However, a few examples of “near-magic” squares were known in the sense that the row, column and one diagonal totals are the same but the total on the other diagonal is different. I have recently proved that there are not only infinitely many such squares, but also constructed a parametric family of them. If you find this particular branch of mathematics inspiring, you can access the article here.

28 May 2011	Can I remind you all that the cut off date for TMA04 on the MST121 2010J presentation is 8 June, and that the OU do not allow any extensions on this assignment whatsoever, regardless of any unusual circumstances. Consequently, this TMA must be in my possession no later than midnight on the 8 June, otherwise you will fail the course.

05 May 2011	Please remember that the MST121 J day school on 14^th May will be held from 1-3 and not at its usual time of 10:30. I have not yet decided what I will do, and so if anyone has any special requests please email me and let me know what material you would like covered.

05 May 2011	At tonight’s MST121 B tutorial we will go over questions 5 and 6 from a previous TMA.

28 April 2011	At tonight’s tutorial we will go over a previous question 1 from TMA04, which will be as close as I can find to this years one. Afterwards, I will go over the easiest way to complete the square when the coefficient of x^2 is greater than unity.

14 April 2011	At tonight’s MS221 tutorial we will do questions 1-3 from last year’s TMA. That is, of course, assuming that the college is open. It is closed to full time students for Easter, but the OU have assured me that it will be open for us (although we may have to leave a little earlier if we are the only ones in the building).

07 April 2011	As there is one more tutorial before the next assignment is due, we will do sequences and matrices at tonight’s MST121 11B tutorial. We will save the vector work from B3 until the next tutorial.

07 April 2011	All 13 of the MS221 assignments that I received early have been marked and sent off to the OU yesterday. Theoretically, you should get your TMA back the day after the cut-off date.

31 March 2011	Whilst the calculus is (hopefully) still fresh in your minds, we will do question 3 from the 2010B TMA04 at tonight’s tutorial. Similarly, we will do question 3 from a different TMA04 at the day school on Saturday.

24 March 2011	All TMA01’s for MST121 11B and all TMA03’s for MST121 10J have now been marked and returned, and hopefully should be back with you over the next few days. At tonight’s 11B tutorial we will have a look over Unit 1 of Block B and, time permitting, will have a brief introduction to matrices.

24 March 2011	Please note the following important errata notice for MS221 TMA 01.

10 March 2011	Could I remind my MST121 10J students to include a signed and dated PT3 form with their upcoming TMA03, and also to put your own address on the rear of the envelope.

10 March 2011	At tonight’s tutorial I will go over some differential equation questions from the 2008 TMA’s. These will be a different set of questions to those which we went through at last Saturday’s day school.

02 March 2011	Please remember that many of the start dates for the second and third level maths courses are being changed from February to October. If you think that this may affect your plans or course choice, please click here for more information. MS221 in particular reverts to an October start commencing October 2011. There will be no further February starts for this course.

02 March 2011	At the MST121 J day school this Saturday I will go over some differential equation questions from previous TMAs.

02 March 2011	Unless anyone requests otherwise, at the MST121 B tutorial on Thursday I intend to do part 2 of last years TMA01. Please remember when submitting this assignment that this is the one and only time that you do not need to include a PT3 form. You must, however, ensure that your work is clearly labelled with your name and personal identifier.

24 February 2011	I would like to extend a hearty welcome to all my MS221 2011 B students and at the same time take the opportunity to remind you that the first tutorial will be held tonight at 7:20 at the Lower Mounts Campus of Northampton College. Unless anyone has any special requests I intend to do the 2010 B TMA questions from Unit A1, and if there is any time left afterwards I will give you a preview of Unit A2.

10 February 2011	The agenda for Saturday’s day school for MST121 2010 J students will be as follows: Initially we will hold a post mortem on TMA02, which was not done anything like as well as TMA01. It will help if you could bring your marked scripts along with you. We will then do the C1 and C2 questions from one of last years TMA’s. If there is any time left (which there probably will be), I will give you a preview of C3, which is by far the trickiest unit of the block. I will not do any old TMA questions on it, however, as there are two more tutorials prior to the cut off date.

30 January 2011	If anyone is interested in integer sequences, I have added comments to a further 30 or so sequences in the OEIS in the last few weeks. The sequences that I have written can be found here, those that I have commented on are here and finally those that I have corrected are here.

30 January 2011	Unless anyone requests otherwise, at the MST121 B tutorial on Thursday I intend to do part 1 of last years TMA01. Then, if there is any time left (which there probably will be), I will go over some of the trickier algebra from A0.

25 January 2011	Welcome to all of my students undertaking the 2011B presentations of MST121 and MS221. Apologies for not contacting you earlier, but I only received notification of your details from the OU this morning. By now you should all have received your welcome emails and, if you are reading this, the tutorial dates are also available on this website. Please use these in preference to those given by the OU on your Student Home page.

06 January 2011	At tonight’s tutorial I will complete TMA 02 from the MST121 2010 B presentation. Similarly, on Saturday morning I will complete TMA 02 from the MST121 2009 J presentation. Please ensure that you read the note below (14 December) regarding the change of venue.

20 December 2010	Congratulations also to my MST121 10 B students who, I am delighted to report, achieved a 100% pass rate.

20 December 2010	A merry Christmas and a happy new year to all my students.

14 December 2010	Please note that Kettering Tresham college will now be closed to Open University students on Saturdays as part of their cost-cutting plans. This means that the day schools scheduled for 8 January, 5 March, 2 April and 14 May will have to be transferred to the Lower Mounts campus of Northampton College. The times for the first three of these will remain unchanged, but the time for the tutorial on Saturday 14 May has had to be changed to 1:00 to 3:00. Apologies to any students that are affected by these changes, but unfortunately they are outside of our control.

02 December 2010	A big thank you to all those students who braved the Arctic conditions and turned up at tonight’s tutorial. At Kettering on Saturday I will go through the first three questions from last years TMA 02 (which will be a different assignment to the one at Northampton).

10 November 2010	Please remember when submitting TMA01 part 2 that this is the one and only time that you do not need to include a PT3 form. You must, however, ensure that your work is clearly labelled with your name and personal identifier.

10 November 2010	At tomorrow’s tutorial (which you may recall starts at 7:20) we will go through an old TMA 01 part 2. Similarly, at Kettering on Saturday morning we will go through a different TMA 01 part 2.

19 October 2010	We have been able to change the times of the evening tutorials at Northampton College from 7:15->9:15 to 7:20->9:20. It is only five minutes later, but due to the parking problems there it is better than 7:15->9:15. However, we must be out (bang) on time as the college officially closes at 9:00 and it is only due to their goodwill that we are allowed to stay later. Also, the caretakers lock the building up at 9:30 and so we must respect this.

15 October 2010	Best wishes to all my MS221 students in your exam next week. If you have any problems in the meantime, just give me a ring.

13 October 2010	Please note that there is an error in TMA01 Question 2 (b). The fourth term of the sequence should be '-0.054', not '-0.54' as currently appears.

13 October 2010	MST121 TMA01 part 1 is due on the 27 th October and should be sent to me at the address given in my introductory email. Please remember to include a signed and dated PT3 form with the regional code correctly entered as 05. I will return any TMA’s that I receive by the 19 October by return of post the same day. Any TMA’s that I receive after this date will not be marked and returned until the first week of November.

13 October 2010	At Saturday’s MST121 tutorial (which is at the Kettering Tresham) I will (a) go through those areas of the preparatory TMA that caused students to lose marks (b) go through an old TMA 01 (part 1) – different to the one at Northampton and (c) if there is any time left I will show you the best strategy for solving algebraic equations involving fractions .

13 October 2010	At Thursday’s MST121 tutorial (which is at the Lower Mounts campus of Northampton College) I will (a) go through those areas of the preparatory TMA that caused students to lose marks (b) go through an old TMA 01 (part 1) and (c) if there is any time left I will show you a method of factorising quadratic expressions ax^2+bx+c where a>1.

7 October 2010	A nice timely solution. The tutorial originally scheduled for Saturday (9 October) at Kettering Tresham college has now been re-scheduled for Saturday 16 October. Apologies to anyone inconvenienced by this, but there was little else we could have done.

7 October 2010	For reasons beyond our control, the tutorial at Kettering Tresham college on Saturday (9 October) has been cancelled. The timing of this could not have been worse and we are busy exploring alternative options. I will post an update as soon as we have been able to find a resolution.

30 September 2010	Please remember that the venue for the MS221 day school on 2 October has been changed to the Lower Mounts campus of Northampton College. I will take the morning session from 10:30 to 12:30, and will go through section A of a past exam paper. Dr. Judy Ekins will present the afternoon session from 1:30 to 3:30 and will go through section B of a past exam paper.

24 September 2010	Can I also take this opportunity to remind my new students that they must include a completed, signed and dated PT3 form with every TMA, including the preparatory TMA 10 for MST121. I am unable to mark any assignments that do not have this form attached as the OU will be unable to process them and credit you with the marks. The regional code is 05.

24 September 2010	I have just received the following notification from the OU regarding all future tutorial and day school arrangements that are currently held at the Booth Lane site of Northampton College. “As from 1 October the Booth Lane site will be closed to the Open University and everything (tutorials, day schools etc) will be relocated to Lower Mounts. The OU will send out the notification to all students, and Studenthome will be updated with the new site’s details from 30 September”. The first of my sessions to be affected will be the morning session of the day school on 2 October. This will now take place at the Lower Mounts site.

15 September 2010	At tomorrow’s MS221 tutorial, I will do last years TMA04.

11 September 2010	Can I remind you all that the cut off date for TMA04 on the MST121 2010B presentation is 22 September, and that the OU do not allow any extensions on this assignment whatsoever, regardless of any unusual circumstances. Consequently, this TMA must be in my possession no later than 22 September, otherwise you will fail the entire course.

23 August 2010	As usual, I am pleased to report that I have had a 100% pass rate in both MU120 and MST121 2009J. So well done to you all, and best wishes for your future studies.

23 August 2010	I will be taking both sessions at the day school on September 4, and so unless anyone requests that I cover anything different my plan is to go over some past ECA questions.

11 August 2010	Please note that there is an error in TMA04, Question 4 (b). The 1st line should read.. 'An RSA cipher is defined on Z205 by...' This means that the calculations that you need to perform in (b) (ii) need to be performed in modulo 205 arithmetic and not modulo 160. This should be clear once you have read the unit, but if it is not then please let me know and I will go through it in greater detail.

10 August 2010	Please note that no extensions are permitted on the final assignment for MS221. The cut-off date for this is 29 September, and so your TMA must be in my possession no later than midnight on this day. Sensibly, of course, you will attempt to finish it earlier than this in order to provide more revision time for the final examination.

10 August 2010	The OU have now confirmed that the tutorial originally scheduled for second September has been moved to September 16. This will be better from a student’s perspective as it will allow me to do more questions from last year’s TMA.

20 July 2010	The OU announced today that many of the start dates for the second and third level maths courses are being changed from February to October. If you think that this may affect your plans or course choice, please click here for more information. For MS221 in particular, the February 2011 presentation will proceed as planned but will revert thereafter to an October start commencing October 2011.

15 July 2010	At tonight’s MS221 tutorial, I will do last years TMA03.

12 July 2010	Please note that the MS221 tutorial on the second of September has been cancelled. I have put forward an alternative date to the OU, but they are yet to get back to me and confirm that it is okay. As soon as I hear from them I will post the details on this notice board.

12 July 2010	After a lot of totally unnecessary grief caused by the hosting companies Nine Net Avenue and HostRoute (neither of which I would ever use again or recommend to anyone else), I am pleased to say that this website is now back online.