Unit 1 Description
Unit 1 of Specialist Mathematics contains three topics – ‘Combinatorics’, ‘Vectors in the plane’ and ‘Geometry’ – that complement the content of Mathematical Methods. The proficiency strand, Reasoning, of the F–10 curriculum is continued explicitly in ‘Geometry’ through a discussion of developing mathematical arguments. While these ideas are illustrated through deductive Euclidean geometry in this topic, they recur throughout all of the topics in Specialist Mathematics. ‘Geometry’ also provides the opportunity to summarise and extend students’ studies in Euclidean Geometry. An understanding of this topic is of great benefit in the study of later topics in the course, including vectors and complex numbers.
‘Vectors in the plane’ provides new perspectives for working with two-dimensional space, and serves as an introduction to techniques that will be extended to three-dimensional space in Unit 3.
‘Combinatorics’ provides techniques that are useful in many areas of mathematics including probability and algebra. All these topics develop students’ ability to construct mathematical arguments.
These three topics considerably broaden students’ mathematical experience and therefore begin an awakening to the breadth and utility of the subject. They also enable students to increase their mathematical flexibility and versatility.
Access to technology to support the computational aspects of these topics is assumed.