Maths and numeracy support
Get help and guidance with the fundamental maths and numeracy skills relevant to your course and vocational area.
Popular pages on the Skills website
Maths and numeracy skills are relevant to many subject areas at the university, not just maths and science courses. For example:
- Nursing students are required to use formulae and complete calculations for drug doses.
- Business students may have to interpret data, perform calculations, and assess or present financial information in reports.
- Policing and public health students may need to interpret and utilise different sources of data and statistics.
Numeracy skills are also relevant to most careers and are highly valued by employers. Graduate-level employment can include numerical reasoning assessments as part of the recruitment process. Certain professions require the completion of numerical assessments before achieving professional qualification.
It may be some time since you studied maths in a formal context. Maths skills can diminish if not utilised. Numeracy Support can help you to refresh and develop the skills required for your current course.
You can access support in different ways. Various workshops, webinars and 1:1 appointments are available on campus and online via Microsoft Teams. Assistance with sourcing relevant resources for specific topics or subject areas is available. There are links to general online resources below.
Numeracy workshops
The current workshops available are listed below. These are updated regularly, and if you have any suggestions for potential workshops, please email these to library-numeracysupport@salford.ac.uk.
Algebra Refresher 1: Core Techniques
Starts: 2 Dec 2024, 9:30 amFinishes: 2 Dec 2024, 12:30 pmRemaining places: 90This session is designed to reinforce essential algebraic techniques for students who want to refresh their understanding before diving into more advanced topics. We'll cover foundational concepts including basic notation, laws of indices, expanding and simplifying expressions, collecting like terms, factorisation, substitution and rearranging formulae.Algebra Refresher 2: Solving Equations
Starts: 3 Dec 2024, 9:30 amFinishes: 3 Dec 2024, 12:30 pmRemaining places: 90This session will focus on solving different types of equations, providing a practical refresher on linear, simultaneous, and quadratic equations. The workshop will include step-by-step guidance on solving these equations efficiently and accurately, ensuring you’re prepared for further study
1-1 Appointments
1-1 sessions are available in-person on campus or online via Microsoft Teams. These are scheduled on Mondays between 13:30-16:30, and Wednesdays from 13:30-16:30. Each appointment lasts approximately 50 mins. Appointments can be booked through Advantage. You will be asked to provide further details of your enquiry. 1-1 support may also be available at other times, please email library-numeracysupport@salford.ac.uk to arrange a convenient time.
(Please note, we can’t provide direct help on assessed course work, but can assist with similar example questions).
Online Resources
There is a wide range of general maths support available online, whether you need a quick answer to a specific question or deeper understanding of a topic.
(This section contains links to external websites. We make every effort to ensure these links are accurate, up to date and relevant, but cannot take responsibility for external providers' pages.)
eLearning
These short eLearning courses are designed to help you refresh your knowledge and skills on:
- Algebra.
- Statistics.
Websites
- mathcentre.ac.uk has resources that can be organised by topic or by subject area. For example, business, economics and health. There is also a ‘Numeracy Refresher’ booklet that covers essential topics SECTION 1 - DECIMALS (mathcentre.ac.uk)
- Numbers | sigma Mathematics and Statistics Support (coventry.ac.uk) A set of numeracy-related workbooks from Coventry University. The site has links to numerical reasoning assessment resources Numerical Reasoning | sigma Mathematics and Statistics Support (coventry.ac.uk)
- Graduates First has information and practice assessments relating to numerical reasoning assessments. As a student at the university, you can register for free using your university email address at the link above.
- Home | National Numeracy provides a self-assessment tool, resources and discusses the topic of maths anxiety.
- The GCSE Maths Tutor - YouTube channel provides short videos covering the complete GCSE syllabus and is organised into topic playlists.
- Corbettmaths – Videos, worksheets, 5-a-day and much more covers the full GCSE syllabus and provides extensive worksheets and answers.
- The Maths Tutor (mathtutor.ac.uk) website. Created by Leeds, Loughborough and Coventry Universities. Has an ‘Arithmetic’ page. Other pages have resources progressing into more advanced areas of maths.
- The GCSE Maths - BBC Bitesize website also covers the full range of the GCSE syllabus.
- Skillswise - BBC Teach has resources covering basic maths skills in ‘real-life’ and vocational contexts
- Math | Khan Academy has maths content at all levels and incorporates short videos and interactive quizzes.
- The http://www.statstutor.ac.uk/ website has videos, ‘Teach Yourself’ guides, and other statistics resources.
Online Courses
The Open University provides freely available courses via its Open Learn platform. These courses provide a more extensive foundation in each topic and often provide a digital certificate of completion:
1. Maths Help
This Is a series of short courses relating to various maths topics that can be completed separately. Each course requires approximately 5 hours study time:
- Numbers, units and arithmetic - OpenLearn - Open University
- Rounding and estimation - OpenLearn - Open University
- Ratio, proportion and percentages - OpenLearn - Open University
- Squares, roots and powers - OpenLearn - Open University
- Diagrams, charts and graphs - OpenLearn - Open University
- Language, notation and formulas - OpenLearn - Open University
- Geometry - OpenLearn - Open University
- Using a scientific calculator - OpenLearn - Open University
2. Everyday Maths
These two longer courses cover everyday numeracy topics:
3. Jumpstart University
A collaboration between the Open University and the Russell Group that offers a collection of longer courses that aim to assist students starting university. There are four maths related programmes:
Library Resources
The Library has collected together maths and numeracy resources to help you develop your skills and knowledge. This reading list contains links to useful textbooks, videos and websites. This list contains suggested resources by subject area:
- General maths and numeracy
- Statistics
- Biology
- Biomedical Science
- Business and Management
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Construction and Built Environment
- Engineering
- Geography and Environment
- Nursing
- Physics
https://salford.leganto.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/readinglist/searchlists/8036276020001611
If you have anything you'd like to add to this list that you think others may find helpful, please let us know at: library-numeracysupport@salford.ac.uk
LinkedIn Learning
As a student at the University, you also have access to the LinkedIn range of online courses. You will need your University email address and password to access LinkedIn Learning. Courses include:
- Learning Everyday Math
- Business Maths
- Finance Foundations
- Finance and Accounting Skills
- Becoming an Economist
- Essential New Skills in Finance.