August 10
A brief hello from us here at mathsbank
to bring your attention to a couple of developments on the site.
A-Level Results
With the results out, here's hoping you (or your students) have done OK and your future plans are beginning to fall into place. If you're about to begin, or you're halfway through, well you've got all this excitement to look forward to.
MathsBank Articles
Talking of which, have you looked at the mathsbank blog recently? The latest articles include a look at the A* grade,
a wash-up on university entrance
and what we might expect if a
shake-up of the A-Level system
ever takes place.
Summer Offers
Finally, if you haven't already taken out a subscription, there are some great offers in the
mathsbank shop, including 50% discounts on most of our subscription packages. These offers will only be hanging around until the end of August...
All the best for now.
Luke - luke@mathsbank.co.uk - mathsbank.co.uk
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July 10
Newsletter July 2010
A brief hello from us here at mathsbank
to bring your attention to a couple of developments on the site.
Summer offers
Firstly, if you haven't already taken out a subscription, there are currently some great offers in the
mathsbank shop, including 50% discounts on most of our subscription packages until the end of the summer.
mathsbank articles
Have you looked at the mathsbank blog recently? The latest articles include a tribute to the legendary Martin Gardner, who sadly died in May; the maths of the (almost as legendary) vuvuzela; and following the World Cup theme, the best and worst of the mathematical World Cup predictions.
All the best for now.
Luke - luke@mathsbank.co.uk - mathsbank.co.uk
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May 10
Newsletter May 2010
With this the last newsletter before the exams start, we have put together a mathsbank guide to exam preparation and beating exam stress. Please have a look at this and if you are a teacher, make your students aware of it. It may make that all-important difference.
Exam help
So, from all of us here at mathsbank , whether you are a teacher
or a student, all that is left to say is a very big:
GOOD LUCK!
All the best for now.
Gwen - gwen.parker@mathsbank.co.uk - mathsbank.co.uk
P.S. We're not into spamming people, so if you don't want to receive mathsbank
newsletters, just reply to this email with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
Also, please let us know if you'd prefer to receive emails in text format rather than HTML by replying with 'text' in the subject line.
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April 10
Newsletter April 2010
Welcome back to a new term. Next month we'll resume normal service, but for now here's the second
part of our favourite bookmarks.
The MacTutor History of
Mathematics has been around for several years now, but it's still one of
the best maths history websites out there. It's not the most beautiful site on the web, but the depth and quality of the content more than compensates. Ideal for anybody researching a particular mathematician, or if you're a teacher wanting to put a bit of background context onto the boring maths.
Now one for the A-Level Core maths teacher and student, and beyond.
The Wolfram Mathematica Integrator is THE authority on integration. Stuck with an integral? Is a pesky student questioning your superior knowledge and experience? Get the Wolfram Integrator up on the whiteboard and settle the argument there and then. The syntax takes a little getting used to, for example the use of square brackets and the ^ symbol, but we've certainly made excellent use of it and we reckon you'll be able to as well.
By the way, there's a very special offer on the mathsbank site
at the moment. If you are not already a subscriber, take a look - it's not there long!
All the best for now.
Gwen - gwen.parker@mathsbank.co.uk - mathsbank.co.uk
P.S. We're not into spamming people, so if you don't want to receive mathsbank
newsletters, just reply to this email with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.
Also, please let us know if you'd prefer to receive emails in text format rather than HTML by replying with 'text' in the subject line.
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March 10
Newsletter March 2010
We're tired of talking about ourselves. What about all those other great maths sites out there? Surely they deserve a mention! Here are just a couple.
Firstly, the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Maths (ncetm.org.uk) provide a one-stop-shop for all things teaching maths, including discussion forums, CPD ideas and occasional opportunities to benefit from teaching project grants. There's also a great magazine. There are a series of RSS feeds available (https://www.ncetm.org.uk/feeds). What are RSS feeds? NCETM even explain that for you: https://www.ncetm.org.uk/news/about_feeds .
NRICH is another of our favourites (http://nrich.maths.org). You can find a maths problem here for any topic you'd care to imagine, then some more. Questions appropriate for A-Level are in the 'Stage 5' section. This month the site is looking a little different, with a focus on student projects, since as you know, investigation can be such a powerful way to develop understanding.
I hope these come in helpful and I'll try to mention a few more next month.
Until then, all the best.
Gwen - gwen.parker@mathsbank.co.uk - www.mathsbank.co.uk
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February 10
Newsletter February 2010
A couple of updates this month.
Firstly, we are following google's lead and have decided to stop supporting Internet Explorer 6. What does this mean for you? Well, if you are using this rather ancient web browser, you can probably carry on doing so to view the site. It's just that we won't be able to help you if things don't look exactly as they should. We've taken this decision so we can concentrate on supporting the more modern browsers out there. You can check whether you are using IE6 by going to Help -> About....
If you can, we recommend using Firefox instead. Otherwise, Internet Explorer 8 is the most recent offering from Microsoft.
Secondly, there are some rather tasty special offers on the site at the moment, including 10% off some of the longer subscriptions. So if you are thinking of treating yourself or your pupils to some online maths resources, this might be the right moment to act.
If you haven't yet taken out a subscription, remember that there are many advantages, listed here. You can find the subscriptions page here.
All the best.
Gwen - gwen.parker@mathsbank.co.uk - www.mathsbank.co.uk
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January 10
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2010.
You are probably enjoying an extended Christmas break due to the fantastic - I mean terrible - weather.
I am a new member of the mathsbank team, so this is a good chance to introduce myself. The website is still providing teachers and students with high quality teaching and revision material and a resource bank that doesn't stop growing.
If you haven't yet taken out a subscription, remember that there are many advantages, listed here. You can find the subscriptions page here.
Speak to you soon and good luck for the new term.
Gwen - gwen.parker@mathsbank.co.uk www.mathsbank.co.uk
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November 09
You're now well into the new year, and probably looking forward to a Christmas break. A quick note from us here at mathsbank to lighten your day.
Just to remind you that many of the resources on the site are still free and great classroom activities. But you will need a subscription to gain full access. Feel free to drop us an email if you'd like to know all the benefits of a subscription.
Keep up with the mathsbank blog for all the latest developments about the site and more. The latest post focuses on the future of the Northern Ireland schooling system, which although a part of the UK, has its own peculiarities.
And finally, a geeky A-Level maths joke for you:
Jo: What's the integral of 1/cabin?
Kyle: A natural log cabin!
Jo: No, a houseboat. You forgot to add the c!
Hope to see you on the site again some time soon.
Luke -
www.mathsbank.co.uk
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September 09
Welcome back to a new academic year. Here at mathsbank, we would like to wish you every success in your teaching or your studies over the coming months.
Without giving much away, I'll just say there are many exciting developments planned on the site for the coming year. Please keep checking the site. Many of our resources are still free, but you will need a subscription to gain full access. Feel free to drop us an email if you'd like to know all the benefits of a subscription.
Keep up with the mathsbank blog for all the latest developments about the site and more. The latest post provides a few thoughts about the future of the A-Levels themselves.
Hope to see you there, or on the main site, some time soon!
Luke -
www.mathsbank.co.uk
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August 09
We hope you are enjoying a well-earned summer break. Just a quick note from us, which we hope won't spoil your holiday too much.
There are still special offers on some of our subscription packages until the end of August. See the mathsbank shop for more details. Get some revision or preparation in before the start of the new term. Or simply make the most of these excellent offers while they last!
And just to mention, you can now keep up with the mathsbank blog for all the latest developments at http://blog.mathsbank.co.uk/ .
Hope to see you there, or on the main site, some time soon!
Luke -
www.mathsbank.co.uk
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June 09
With exam season nearly over, it's time to make some changes to the subscription system on the mathsbank.
The free weekly trial has now been scrapped. If you have been using the weekly trial, it will expire on Wednesday 10th June at the latest. You will be given a day's warning by email. You will still be able to view the questions in the mathsbank, but access to the solutions and the timer will require a subscription.
New users will also be able to view the questions, but again, access to the solutions and the timer will require a subscription.
Of course, if you are already using a subscription, there will be no change for you.
If you wish to take out a subscription, please visit the shop.
There you will find the three month and one year subscriptions currently available at a reduced rate.
These changes will allow the mathsbank to continue to grow and be one of the most useful A-Level maths websites on the web.
We're hoping exam season went well for all of you. If you are still working, there's not long to go.
If you are finished, enjoy the sunshine and good luck for results day!
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May 09
From all of us here at mathsbank, whether you are a teacher
or a student, all that is left to say is a very big:
GOOD LUCK!
Luke - info@mathsbank.co.uk www.mathsbank.co.uk
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April 09
Welcome to the mathsbank April newsletter.
The more eagle-eyed among you may have noticed some subtle changes to the site
layout. On question pages, you will now see a menu bar to display the timer,
change the font size and to step through the solution. Tip of the month:
pressing the 's' key is a handy shortcut for the solution, to avoid lots of
page scrolling.
As exam season approaches rapidly and revision gets into full swing, we're
seeing increased activity on the website. There are many ways to use the site.
More and more teachers are using the questions as starter activities on your
interactive whiteboards. Others print the questions to use as test material.
A-level students seem most likely to read the question on the screen.
It's not too late to fill in the March survey. Users completing the survey
will be rewarded with 50 Karma points. We're working on putting in place other
ways to bring benefits to those of you who interact with the site.
By the way, please if you spot any errors, or questions and solutions
that could be improved in any way. And once again, many thanks for continuing
to use mathsbank.
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March 09
A plea for information this month.
It would be great to know what you think of mathsbank, whether you are a teacher or a pupil, a regular user or a just an occasional visitor.
So we'd like to get your feedback here.
The survey will only take a couple of minutes to complete.
Also, on the communication front, we've joined the tweeting masses on twitter.com . Find us here:
http://twitter.com/mathsbank
You can become a follower of our tweets there, or subscribe to the RSS version here:
https://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/20429335.rss
Keep up the hard work - hope we're helping!
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February 09
January was a record month for mathsbank. There are now more users than ever before and you are all visiting the site more than ever.
All of which has kept us very busy. But we've also been busy updating our question bank, which means lots of new questions, some clarifications and a few corrections too.
We also have a buzzword cloud on the home page, and a separate one on each module page - e.g. http://mathsbank.co.uk/home/a-level/c1 . We think you'll find these a helpful way of jumping straight to the topics you particularly need.
The A-Levels are approaching fast and practice makes perfect. By the way, remember to use our 'Tell a Friend' page if you know somebody else who would find mathsbank useful.
As an early user of the site, you will soon be asked for some feedback in a small survey. It should only take 2 minutes, and your feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to seeing you back at the site soon!
Luke
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January 09
Firstly, we'd like to wish you a very happy New Year and if you are an A-Level student, every success in your exams.
If you've logged in recently, you'll notice that that site has been given a completely new look. We think it will help you get around more quickly and easily.
On the list of tabs, you'll notice a 'Random Question'. You can use this from the module you're studying, or if you're feeling really brave, from the home page. That will give you a random question from any module.
New questions are being added all the time. Along with the search functionality and the top 5 most popular questions, we think you'll find the site even more useful than ever.
To get the most from the site you must be logged in, so if you do not have an account, register now for your free login.
As usual, we're always looking for people to help out with writing questions, so drop us a line if you can.
Finally, if you find a question or answer doesn't make sense to you, please let us know. We'll be pleased to help you out - or you may even have discovered a mistake!
Keep at it - practice makes perfect!
Luke -
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December 08
It's been a busy month at mathsbank.
There's now search functionality and a top 5 most popular questions, both helping you find your way around the site more easily.
The timer and the solutions are now only available when logged in, so if you do not have an account, register now for your free login.
New questions are being added all the time. We're currently writing questions based on some of the most recent exam questions, including from the 2008 exam series. These are going online currently, so keep checking the site.
We're hoping that from 1st January you will be able to create your own exams and test papers from the questions on the site. (OK, this one is mainly for teachers.) Build a paper on a single topic or a mixed-up mock-exam. Because the questions are randomised, you will be guaranteed a completely unique set of questions for your paper.
These papers can be emailed or posted (CD or hard copy) along with the mark schemes. We think this will be a valuable service, but it will be necessary to charge a small fee to cover our costs.
By the way, we're always looking for people to help out with writing questions, so drop us a line if you can and earn some Karma.
That's all for now.
Luke -
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November 08
Firstly, I’d like to say thanks for signing up at mathsbank.co.uk.
Whether you’re a teacher or a student, we think you’ll find it really useful.
Now the important bit. Because of your interest in mathsbank, we have decided to reward you. If you log in frequently, you will have noticed your Karma score ticking upwards. That’s our way of rewarding all the users of the site. The more you put into the site, the more Karma you can earn.
The site is changing constantly, with new questions and new features being added all the time, so keep coming back. If you think we’re missing an important topic, please let us know and we’ll try to get it on the site as soon as possible.
How can you earn Karma?
You get one point of Karma each time you log in (one point per login per day).
Karma is also awarded for contributions to the site. So if you would like to write questions for us, drop us an email at . You will need to know LaTeX. There will be some detailed information on this appearing on the site soon.
If you are an A-Level student, you might want to ask your teacher or head of department about getting school membership.
What can you do with Karma?
Any registered user with Karma Points owns a small part of the website. The more you earn, the more you own. This will give you the opportunity to influence the website and the direction it is taking.
In the long run, we envisage a community-owned website, owned by and supporting the schools, colleges and mathematically-minded individuals of the UK!
Look forward to seeing you on the site again soon!
Luke
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