Introduction to Contextual Maths in Chemistry

By (author) Fiona Dickinson, Andrew McKinley

Publication date:

14 January 2021

Length of book:

295 pages

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

ISBN-13: 9781839161933

CHEMISTRY STUDENT GUIDES. GUIDED BY STUDENTS

For any student who has ever struggled with a mathematical understanding of chemistry, this book is for you.

Mathematics is the essential tool for physical scientists. We know that confidence in using mathematics early on in a chemistry degree builds a solid foundation for further study. However, applying the abstract mathematics taught in schools to chemical phenomena is one of the biggest challenges that chemistry students face.

In this book, we take a ‘chemistry-first’ approach. We link the mathematics to recognisable chemical concepts, building on high school chemistry, to facilitate deeper understanding. We cover the practical mathematical skills, including representation of data as tables and graphs, and give an overview of error handling in the physical sciences. More advanced mathematical concepts are introduced, using calculus to determine kinetic rate laws, intermolecular forces and in quantifying energetic change in thermodynamics. We also introduce the concept of the complex number and its role in considering quantum wave functions, widely used in computational chemistry.

There are worked examples and problem sets to provide plenty of practise material to build proficiency. We also include insights from real students, which identify common problem areas and provide the prompts that helped them to overcome these.

Chemistry Student Guides are written with current students involved at every stage, guiding the books towards the most challenging aspects of the topic.

How to use this book; The basics: Mathematical functions, rearranging equations and handling units; Probability and Statistics in Chemistry; Experimental uncertainty and significant figures: What are the bounds of experimental error?; Tables and Graphs - Presenting and Analysing Experimental Data; Trigonometry and coordinate systems: Crystal structures and molecular separations; Vectors, directions and crystal structures; Calculus 1, Differentiation: Mean speeds and equilibrium separations; Calculus 2, Integration: Reaction kinetics and rate laws; Complex numbers: Quantum mechanics and solving the Schrödinger equation; The Mathematical Toolkit

The teaching of mathematics to students of chemistry has always been a difficult undertaking. Many students do not appreciate the value of mathematics in their subject and their confidence is often further undermined by textbooks which rely heavily on examples drawn from physics. Dickinson & McKinley bring a great deal of experience of chemistry teaching at degree level and their textbook is explicitly organised so that mathematical concepts are mapped directly to topics a chemistry student will find familiar. The book also places emphasis on techniques of dimensional analysis and the statistical analysis of data, which are often poorly taught to chemistry students. Overall the book fills a gap in chemical education and is highly recommended to anyone teaching physical chemistry or laboratory skills to chemistry students in higher education.