About Mathematics For Information Science (GAMAT101)
Mathematics for Information Science 1 (GAMAT101) is the Group A first-semester mathematics paper under the 2024 scheme. It carries 3 credits across 3:0:0:0 hours and assumes single-variable calculus from higher secondary. The course is essentially multivariable calculus, built towards optimisation.
What the modules cover
- Module 1 revisits single-variable ground at university pace — limits and continuity, derivatives as functions, the chain rule, implicit differentiation, tangents and normals, linearisation, and the second derivative test for concavity.
- Module 2 moves to functions of several variables: domains and ranges, level curves, limits and continuity in two variables, partial derivatives, second-order partials, and the mixed derivative theorem.
- Module 3 is where most of the marks concentrate — directional derivatives, the gradient and its properties, then local extrema: critical points, saddle points, the second derivative test, and absolute maxima and minima on closed bounded regions.
- Module 4 applies all of it: constrained optimisation by Lagrange multipliers with one and two constraints, the method of steepest descent in two variables, and linear programming formulated and solved graphically.
How it is assessed
40 marks internal, 60 external. The internal splits as 5 for attendance, 15 for assignment or microproject, and 10 each for two written internal examinations.
The end-semester paper runs 2 hours 30 minutes. Part A has eight compulsory 3-mark questions, two from every module — so skipping a module costs marks directly. Part B gives two 9-mark questions per module and you answer one from each, with up to three sub-divisions per question.
Books
Thomas' Calculus (15th edition) is the primary text. Kreyszig's Advanced Engineering Mathematics covers the LPP material in Module 4.