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Technical University of Munich

Precourse Mathematics for Informatics

What is the Precourse in Mathematics for Informatics?

We offer a preliminary course for all students starting a degree program in the Professional Profile Informatics at the TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology. It serves three purposes:

  1. To familiarize you with the way of working in the Informatics degree programs: As in many courses in the Informatics Bachelor's programs, the preliminary course consists of lectures, in which you are taught content, and exercises, in which you independently deepen the content of the lectures by means of tasks. The latter take place in groups of around 30 students and are supervised by a tutor.
  2. You will refresh your mathematical knowledge and prepare for the mathematics lectures in the first semesters: Some mathematical knowledge (e.g. logarithm calculation rules, solving equations) is a prerequisite for the degree programs. The preliminary course gives you the opportunity to repeat these and to identify and close any gaps in your knowledge. In addition, you will see what mathematics lectures at university look like, and how university mathematics differs from school mathematics. In particular, topics from discrete mathematics - such as combinatorics - play an important role.
  3. You will get an introduction to computers: Some computer skills (e.g. using the command line) are useful in Informatics studies, but are not part of the curriculum. The Informatics part at the end of the preliminary course gives you an introduction to the command line and other tools that you will need during your studies.

You will also get to know your fellow students in the practice groups. Participation in the pre-course is voluntary and not required. However, it can help you to be successful in your studies.

 

Organizational Matters

When?

The course lasts three weeks and takes place from Tuesday, September 9 to Tuesday, September 30, 2025 in German and English. Here you can find the schedule (as of September 5, 2024). After each math lecture, there will be about 15 minutes reserved for questions in the chat.

Where?

Lectures will be held online – exceptions are the last four lectures in October. The link to the stream can be found on the Moodle page of the course. The last four lectures on September 29 and 30, 2025 will take place in lecture hall 1 (room 00.02.001) in the MI building of the TUM campus in Garching. However, they will also be broadcast online via the same link as the previous lectures.

The exercises will take place online and in seminar rooms in the MI building of the TUM campus in Garching. You have the possibility to choose between attending an online and a face-to-face exercise. The information about your exercise room – should you wish to attend the face-to-face exercises – will be published here after the end of the registration period or communicated to you via email. The links to the online exercises can also be found on Moodle.

In short: If you want, you can follow the whole precourse online. However, if you have the possibility to participate in presence, we recommend to do so.

Hardware

For the informatics part of the precourse you will need a computer. So do not forget to bring it at least on October 1 and 2, 2024.

Registration

You can register for the course with this Form. Afterward, you will access the Moodle page of the lecture, where you can view the lecture notes and the schedule.

If you encounter problems please contact "mathe-vorkurs25(at)cit.tum.de"

For students of the Information Engineering program (and only for them): Please register via "ie-bachelor-heilbronn(at)in.tum.de".

Course Program

At the beginning of the course, you will get an introduction to the remote use of our school computers. Since most school computers run UNIX operating systems, you will also receive a short UNIX crash course. Furthermore, you will get an overview of various websites that you will frequently use during your Informatics studies to register for lectures or download free software.

The mathematics component of the precourse is divided into two parts: A lecture part, led by Prof. Michael Luttenberger, and an exercise part. The exercise groups are supervised by student tutors who explain the topics from the lectures in more detail using exercises and examples. You will work towards being able to solve the tasks independently.

Course Content

Computer introduction

  • Getting to know the university (lecture, exercise etc.)
  • Use of computers at the institute
  • Use of own laptop at the institute & remote access to the computer hall
  • Platforms on the Internet that are important for studying
  • Printing in the computer hall
  • Short introduction to LaTeX

Mathematics

Basics of

  • (informal) propositional and predicate logic
  • set theory, natural numbers and induction
  • binary relations, directed graphs and functions
  • integers, rational numbers, real numbers, fields
  • limits of sequences and series
  • elementary functions on the reals
  • continuity, derivative and integral
  • combinatorics, urn model, discrete probability spaces (*)
  • analytical geometry, linear algebra (*)

(* if time permits)

Useful Links

University

  • MyTUM: Portal for TUM students. News about TUM, information about degree programs, web interface for MyTUM mails
  • TUMonline: Registration for various exams and courses
  • Student Respresentation: The Student Committee is the executive body of the Student Council.
  • Library: University library with online catalog, opening hours etc.

Informatics at the Garching Research Campus

Degree program webpages:

Introductory events and advising:

Computing/Internet

Informatics at Heilbronn Campus

Other

  • StudiSoft: Free download of software from MSDN, TUM email required for login
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