General Remarks

In order to learn effectively, you should make notes when watching the videos. For each topic, prepare an overview - based on the slides and the remarks made in the videos - which seems well structured to you. Imagine you have to present the content to somebody else or you have to review the materials in two or three years in a very short amount of time. Make sure that your notes can be a solid basis for these purposes. Printing the slides, coloring them and underscoring important keywords is (usually) not sufficient. You can also build small peer groups to review the content.

It may also be wise to consult the literature, to read Wikipedia entries or look for other sources in order to get a comprehensive picture and a different angle on the content.

Use for your preparation and studying efforts all available resources. This is an important ingredient to succesfully completing your studies. In order to optimally prepare for upcoming exams and tests, surely the memo and checklist Prof. M. Felder prepared for his students (pdf, en) may proof itself helpful to you .

Felder, Richard M. "MEMO: To students who have been disappointed with their test grades." Chemical Engineering Education 33.2 (1999): 136-137

Is it necessary to learn programming in Python and R to sucessfully complete my studies?

To review your mathematical basics you can work on problems in R or Python. Therewith, on the one hand, you review the basic mathematical concepts, and on the other hand you are being introduced to a programming language.

You do not need to learn programming, but you can, if you want. And, we are convinced: You will profit from it. May it be for the empirical, scientific work during your stay in Academia or in your future career elsewhere, being able to handle, work with or analyse data is an important asset in your skill set. Not to mention the efficiency gains you will have, if you are able to automate repetitive tasks on a PC. The topic BigData and dataliteracy is, not without reason, exteremely fashionable.

With the short introductions to Python and R, we offer you a possibility to kill two birds with one stone. You can review mathematical concepts by solving programming problems.

Why Python, why R?

Both programming tools are OpenSource - the source code is freely accessible to everybody. The advantage: You do not need to buy a licence to use the software. Both programming languages offer an enormous repository of statistical modules and packages for data analysis. Both languages are used, cared for and appreciated by scientists and other users from all over the world. In order to learn how to use other proprietary software packages the syllabus of the faculty, but also of the ZDV offers ample opportunitites.

Should I watch the videos in a certain order?
No. You should watch the videos that are of interest to you. If you find that you have some gaps when working through one of the topics, you can always watch a different video on another topic first. If you really want to work through all the topic, our suggested order would be:

1. Logic
2. Sets
3. Algebra
4. Fractions
5. Percentages
6. Relations
7. Fundamental structures of proofs
8. Coefficients and the Binomial Theorem
9. Combinatorics -- Permutations
10. Combinatorics -- Concepts of counting
11. Exponentiation
12. Logarithms
13. Inequalities
14. Intervals
15. Absolute Value
16. Equations
17. Functions
18. Polynomials
19. Rational functions
20. Inverse, composed and implicite funktions
21. Sequences
22. Series
23. Calculation of Interest
24. Complex numbers

I have found an error, who can I turn to?
Please write a short email to Constantin Hanenberg , so that the error can be corrected.

"Something is missing!" or "I have a suggestion how the site can be improved.". With whom can I share my suggestion
Please write a short email to Constantin Hanenberg , so that we can check your suggestions.

I can see the video, but there is no sound.
Most probably you are using a MacPC and Safari to watch the videos. The videos are use the MP4 video codec, while the audio track uses the libmp3lame codec. Some of the videos have been edited so that they use the AAC codec. If there is no sound, please install the two codecs on your Mac. If there are still problems, please write an email to Constantin Hanenberg . Please provide in your email details with regard to the video for which the error occurs, your operating system as well as your browser.

I have a question regarding one of the topics, who can I ask?
You can either submit a comment below one of the videos, since your question might be of interest to other students as well. You can also write an email to Constantin Hanenberg , if you do not want to pose your question publically.

Who is responsible for this site?
Your contact for all questions concerning this site is: