Key Math Skills for Chemistry

LEARNING GOAL Develop a study plan for learning chemistry. 

11 What are four things you can do to help yourself to succeed in chemistry  

12 What are four things that would make it difficult for you to learn chemistry  

13 A student in your class asks you for advice on learning chemistry. Which of the following might you suggest  

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During your study of chemistry, you will work many problems that involve numbers. You will need various math skills and operations. We will review some of the key math skills that are particularly important for chemistry. As we move through the chapters, we will also reference the key math skills as they apply. 

These Key Math Skills and the Core Chemistry Skills from previous chapters are listed here for your review as you proceed to the new material in this chapter. 

Chapter Readiness at the beginning of each chapter lists the Key Math Skills and Core Chemistry Skills from the previous chapters that provide the foundation for new chemistry principles in the current chapter. 

Chapter 1, Chemistry in Our Lives, introduces the concepts of chemicals and chemistry, discusses the scientific method in everyday terms, guides students in developing a study plan for learning chanistry, and now has a new section of Key Math Skills, which reviews basic math needed for learning chemistry. The section on Writing Numbers in Scientific Notation was moved from Chapter 2 and is now part of the section of Key Math Skills in this chapter. 

Key Math Skills review the basic math required needed for chemistry. Instructors can also assign these through MasteringChemistry. 

Here we provide another actual midterm examination from the intense Summer P. Chem. course at VCU in 2008. If students are told they are responsible for derivations like the van der Waals critical point and the Camot cycle they will have a chance to learn them, but it is unlikely students will learn such derivations without fair warning. Since students can learn massive amounts of encyclopedic information in organic chemistry and biochemistry, there is no reason not to expect them to learn key multistep derivations. Learning these key derivations improves the level of the math skill in the class. 

Of course, you might get called on to solve a problem where V2 is not the unknown. The key to correctly answering these problems will be your ability to identify and isolate the unknown. It is an unfortunate fact that some students do poorly in chemistry, simply because their algebra skills are somewhat weak. If you identify such a weakness in yourself, don t let it affect your chemistry class. Get an algebra tutor, or look for Master Math Algebra (also published by Career Press). 

The book begins with a math and physics review to ensure all students start on the same level, and then discusses the basics of thermodynamics and kinetics with mathematics tuned to a level that stretches students abilities. It then provides material for an optional second semester course that shows students how to apply their enhanced mathematical skills in a brief historical development of the quantum mechanics of molecules. Emphasizing spectroscopy, the text is built on a foundation of quantum chemistry and more mathematical detail and examples. It contains sample classroom-tested exams to gauge how well students know how to use relevant formulas and to display successful understanding of key concepts. 

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