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Technical University of Munich
Technical University of Munich

Precourse Mathematics for Informatics

What is the precourse in mathematics?

We offer a precourse for all first-year students in Informatics. It serves three purposes:

  1. You will be prepared for the way of working in the Informatics study programs: As in many courses in your studies, the precourse consists of lectures, in which you are taught contents, and exercises, in which you can independently deepen the contents of the previous lecture(s) by means of exercises or try them out in practice. The latter take place in groups of about 30 students and are supervised by a tutor.
     
  2. You can check or refresh the level of your mathematical knowledge and will be prepared for the mathematics lectures of the first semesters: Some mathematical knowledge (e.g. logarithm rules, solving equations) is taken for granted during your studies. In the precourse, you will have the chance to review these skills and to identify and close any gaps in your knowledge. In addition, you will see what mathematics lectures at university look like and can thus develop a first feeling for how university mathematics differs from school mathematics. In particular, topics from discrete mathematics – such as combinatorics – play an important role.
     
  3. You will get an introduction to computers: Some knowledge of how to work with computers (e.g. how to use the command line) is useful in Informatics studies, but is not necessarily part of the curriculum of a particular course. The informatics part at the end of the precourse gives you an introduction to the command line and other tools that you can use during your Informatics studies.

You will also get to know your fellow students in the practice groups. Participation in the precourse is voluntary and not required. However, it can help you to be successful in your studies.

Organizational matters

When?

The course lasts three weeks and takes place from Thursday, September 14 to Thursday, October 5, 2023 in German and English. Here you can find the schedule (as of September 13, 2023). After each math lecture, there will be about 15 minutes reserved for questions in the chat.

Where?

Lectures will be held online – exceptions are the last four lectures in October. The link to the stream can be found on the Moodle page of the course. The last four lectures on October 4 and 5, 2023 will take place in lecture hall 1 (room 00.02.001) in the MI building of the TUM campus in Garching. However, they will also be broadcast online via the same link as the previous lectures.

The exercises will take place online and in seminar rooms in the MI building of the TUM campus in Garching. You have the possibility to choose between attending an online and a face-to-face exercise. The information about your exercise room – should you wish to attend the face-to-face exercises – will be published here after the end of the registration period or communicated to you via email. The links to the online exercises can also be found on Moodle.

In short: If you want, you can follow the whole precourse online. However, if you have the possibility to participate in presence, we recommend to do so.

Hardware

For the informatics part of the precourse you will need a computer. So do not forget to bring it at least on October 4 and 5, 2023.

Registration

You can register for the course on TUM-online. Afterward, you will access the Moodle page of the lecture, where you can view the lecture notes and the schedule.

Students without TUM-ID: To register, please log in to Moodle at least once, and then send an email including your name and preferably your academic email address (e.g., email@tum.de, email@mytum.de) to "behdad.ghaffari@tum.de".

For students of the Information Engineering program (and only for them): Please register via "ie-bachelor-heilbronn@in.tum.de".

Course program

At the beginning of the course, you will get an introduction to the remote use of our school computers. Since most school computers run UNIX operating systems, you will also receive a short UNIX crash course. Furthermore, you will get an overview of various websites that you will frequently use during your Informatics studies to register for lectures or download free software.

The mathematics component of the precourse is divided into two parts: A lecture part, led by Prof. Michael Luttenberger, and an exercise part. The exercise groups are supervised by student tutors who explain the topics from the lectures in more detail using exercises and examples. You will work towards being able to solve the tasks independently.

Course content

Computer introduction

  • Getting to know the university (lecture, exercise etc.)
  • Use of computers at the institute
  • Use of own laptop at the institute & remote access to the computer hall
  • Platforms on the Internet that are important for studying
  • Printing in the computer hall
  • Short introduction to LaTeX

Mathematics

Basics of

  • (informal) propositional and predicate logic
  • set theory, natural numbers and induction
  • binary relations, directed graphs and functions
  • integers, rational numbers, real numbers, fields
  • limits of sequences and series
  • elementary functions on the reals
  • continuity, derivative and integral
  • combinatorics, urn model, discrete probability spaces (*)
  • analytical geometry, linear algebra (*)

(* if time permits)

Useful links

University

  • MyTUM: Portal for TUM students. News about TUM, information about degree programs, web interface for MyTUM mails
  • TUMonline: Registration for various exams and courses
  • Student Respresentation: The Student Committee is the executive body of the Student Council.
  • Library: University library with online catalog, opening hours etc.

Informatics at the Garching Research Campus

Degree program webpages:

Introductory events and advising:

Computing/Internet

Informatics at Heilbronn Campus

Other

  • StudiSoft: Free download of software from MSDN, TUM email required for login
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