Quote:
Originally Posted by mishku
Hi folks
I've been toying with the idea of going back to studying some postgrad astronomy subjects, but I'm not quite sure whether I've got a strong enough mathematical foundation. I have a BSc, and was relatively comfortable with the maths we covered in epidemiology and biostatistics at a Masters level, though I've never studied physics.
Do you think my maths would be sharp enough to keep up?
Mishku
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Yes, no problems at all. Although a refresh of algebra and calculus wouldn't go astray. How is your algebra and calculus, in any case??
Also, brush up on some trig and geometry as well.
You don't need to be able to derive formulae from first principles or anything like that. Just so long as you can follow how they used and know how to plug the variables into the equations, or manipulate the equations, to get the answers you require. Knowing how to derive them (or being able to follow their derivation) will give you a better understanding of the maths, though.
You should have no problems with the courses.
I'll give you an example....say you want to find the distance to a star and all you know is the apparent and absolute magnitude of the star. You use the distance modulus...
m-M=5logD-5, with m=apparent magnitude, M=absolute magnitude and D=distance to object (Star) (log being base 10)
However, to get D, you need to manipulate the equation, like this...
D= 10^(m-M+5)/5 (in parsecs)
So, a star with m=8 and M=2.3 would be....
D=10^(8-2.3+5)/5
=10^2.14
=138pc