Bachelor of Science (BSc)

BSc Mathematics with Placement Year

Strengthen your employability by taking our Placement Year programme.
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Year of entry: 2025
  • UCAS course code: G101 / Institution code: M20
  • Key features:
  • Industrial experience
  • Accredited course

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Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £34,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Course unit details:
Methods of Applied Mathematics

Course unit fact file
Unit code MATH35041
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 3
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

This course unit provides students with the methodology to study problems which arise in applied mathematics.  Often, the analytical solution to such a problem involves approximation in terms of a small parameter. We consider asymptotic expansions, such that the error made is controlled.

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Mathematics of Waves and Fields PHYS20171 Pre-Requisite Optional
ODEs and Applications MATH11422 Pre-Requisite Compulsory
Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations MATH11412 Pre-Requisite Compulsory
Partial Differential Equations & Vector Calculus MATH24420 Pre-Requisite Compulsory
MATH35041 PRE REQS

PHYS20171 is an acceptable alternative for those Maths-Physics students who took that unit instead of MATH24420

Aims

This course unit introduces students to important topics in applied mathematics, developing their understanding of asymptotic methods and calculus of variations. The syllabus is motivated by physical applications of historical importance.

Learning outcomes

  • Apply asymptotic methods to obtain perturbation expansions of algebraic equations.
  • Compute asymptotic expansions of integrals containing a parameter.
  • Calculate asymptotic solutions to ODEs containing a parameter, matching the inner and outer solutions as appropriate.
  • Interpret variational problems and solve the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations.
  • Calculate solutions to standard variational problems (e.g. the brachistochrone, Fermat’s principle, geodesics, minimal surface, the isoperimetric problem, the hanging chain).
  • Formulate equations of motion in classical mechanics from a Lagrangian, via Hamilton’s Principle and describe solutions to mechanical problems using the Euler-Lagrange equations and/or perturbation theory.
  • Estimate eigenvalues via the Rayleigh-Ritz method and apply to physical problems.

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Written exam 80%
Report 20%

Feedback methods

Individual feedback via marking comments, and cohort feedback document circulated.
 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 33
Tutorials 11
Independent study hours
Independent study 156

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Neil Morrison Unit coordinator
Paul Glendinning Unit coordinator

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