Introduction to the course

Welcome to this short course on generating functions. Let me briefly say a few words to introduce
myself, who the course is aimed at and what is covered in the course.

My name is Dr Tom Dessain and I teach Mathematics at Manchester Grammar School.

I designed this short course for A-Level students who are considering applying for Mathematics at
university. If that’s you then welcome and I hope this course will help you get a sense of what it is
like to study Mathematics at university. If you’ve already decided you definitely want to study Maths
then this course will introduce you to an important mathematical tool that will be valuable in your
future studies. And if you’re not an A-level student you are very welcome too.

This is a 3 week course and I would recommend setting aside at least 3 hours per week to work
though the material provided. Each week is made up of a series of steps, typically each step begins
with a short video where I introduce an idea followed by some exercises for you to try. You’ll get the
most out of the course if you engage with the exercises that follow the videos and I’d also encourage
you to make good use of the discussion boards in each section to ask questions and interact with
your fellow learners.

This course is an introduction to generating functions and their applications to several areas of
mathematics. I chose this topic because it is closely related to my own mathematical interests and is
such a powerful tool, even though a first glance it might not seem that impressive.

And so now the million dollar question, What are generating functions? Well I’m not going to answer
that question right away, other than to say that as the name suggests, a generating function is a
mathematical function like f(x)=x^2+2x+3 is a function. Later in week 1 I will formally define
generating functions but for now, you’re ready to move onto the next step.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy the course.