About

How do I use Maths Help?

Maths Help offers impartial help and advice with problems in Mathematics and Statistics. It is mainly aimed at UK students taking maths at GCSE, A-level, GNVQ, BTEC, Access or Foundation year degree level (or equivalent). If you have a problem, visit our website at www.maths-help.co.uk and fill in the form on the Send Us a Query page. Within 24-48 hours (maybe a little longer at weekends and during holidays) we aim to email you back with some hints and suggestions which should help you to make more progress with your problem. A few days later we will post up a full solution to the problem in our Knowledge Bank, if we think it would be of interest to other students too.

Why don't you email back the full answer straight away?

Maths is a subject you learn by doing. Often, all you will need is a hint or pointer to get back on the right track. It is our philosophy to give you a chance to have another crack at the problem and solve the problem yourself if you can. That is why we try to email you back quickly, while the problem is still fresh in your mind.

If you are still stuck, you should check our Knowledge Bank a few days later, where we will post up a full solution if we think the problem is one which will help out other students too.

Does that mean Maths Help will do all my homework for me?

Sorry, we are not here to support laziness! We will soon spot if anyone is trying to abuse the service. Please only send in genuine requests for help.

Why can't I email the Maths Help tutors directly?

Maths Help only accepts queries submitted using the form on the Send Us a Query page of this website. This ensures requests are received in a standard format, and can be processed and forwarded to the tutors efficiently. It also allows our centre to filter out any inappropriate messages. Our tutors cannot undertake personal correspondence.

Tell me more about the Maths Help tutors

Maths Help is run by a partnership of experienced mathematics teachers who believe that the Internet has huge potential as a source of information and a means of communication in the field of education. The Maths Help tutors teach in schools or colleges and between them have many years successful experience of teaching GCSE, A-level, BTEC, GNVQ and Foundation year degree mathematics and statistics. They are committed to the idea of supporting students and helping students to work independently.

Other websites which offer help with maths tend to be based in universities, and often use university students to reply to the queries. We feel that using people who are not qualified teachers to reply to the problems can mean that their answers are sometimes too technical and could go over the heads of the reader. Maths Help uses only qualified and experienced teachers who actually work in British schools or colleges. That makes Maths Help a uniquely valuable resource for students in the UK.

Who pays for Maths Help?

Maths Help is currently a free service for anyone with a problem in mathematics or statistics. All the teachers who work for Maths Help do so voluntarily, out of a commitment to develop a truly useful Internet resource for students.

The Maths Help partnership hopes to attract sponsorship and advertising to support this website. Interested organisations or companies are invited to view our current terms.

Why does the Maths Help website look so, er, amateurish?

Because we are not web professionals! We are mathematics teachers who are doing our best to provide a website which is simple to read and use. You must agree that it is better to have a Maths Help site which is provided by professional maths teachers who are dabbling in web design, rather than by professional web designers who are dabbling in maths teaching!!!

We have decided specifically not to clutter the site up with unnecessary frames, animations and fancy graphics. Such things can take a long time to load, and that costs you the user time and money which can be better spent on learning maths! We also wanted to make the site accessible to people who don't have the latest browser technology.

Actually, we think our site is quite well designed where it matters most - in the answers to the questions we post up in our Knowledge Bank. We take time here to produce graphics and diagrams that help to explain the mathematics. We will always try to produce important formulae clearly, for example whereas other sites which rely on text only would probably write something like x=(-b+/-sqrt(b^2-4ac))/2a. Which do you prefer?

Of course, every web site can be improved. If you have any constructive criticism which might improve the look and feel of this site, especially how it appears in other browsers, please let us know at [email protected].

Any small print?

Maths Help is a service provided (currently free of charge) on a bona fide basis to students of mathematics. While endeavouring to provide a reliable service, Maths Help cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, nor for the consequences of any errors or omissions. Maths Help offers no guarantee of service. In particular, the response times stated above are indicative of the type of service we aim to provide, but no guarantee can be given or implied. Maths Help reserves the right not to respond to requests for assistance, for example if the request is deemed by Maths help to be inappropriate or impractical or for any other reason at the discretion of Maths Help. Messages sent to Maths Help, together with the name and other details as provided by the sender, may be made public on this website. Messages sent to Maths Help are deemed to have no intrinsic value and thus Maths Help will entertain no claim for return or for compensation should such messages be ignored or lost. Maths Help has no editorial control over the content of the Maths Chat online chatroom, and accepts no responsibility for the consequences of any comments made therein. Maths Help deplores unreservedly any language or action which is offensive or abusive, and will take steps to limit or counteract this insofar as it has the resources to do so. Maths Help is an internet-based service, and cannot take responsibility for any technical failures which render the service temporarily or permanently inoperable. The files which make up the Maths Help website are believed to be free of viruses or other sources of danger, but no warranty is given or implied and all users are encouraged to take their own precautions when accessing the material on the Maths Help site. The content of this website is the copyright of the Maths Help partnership. However, permission to download and use any material contained within the Knowledge Bank is freely granted on a bona fide basis to students and teachers. The obligations of the Maths Help partnership to advertisers and sponsors is laid out separately and will be made available to advertisers and sponsors at an appropriate time in negotiations.