Portugal: Description of the Advanced Mathematics Programs and Curriculum

Advanced Mathematics is a mandatory course for students in the upper-secondary Science and Technology and Socioeconomic Sciences academic tracks. The curriculum is divided into three main subjects: Probability and Combinatorics, Introduction to Differential Calculus II, and Trigonometry and Complex Numbers. The topics included in each main subject are listed below.

Main Subject Topics
Probability and Combinatorics Introduction to probability: random experiments; outcome spaces; events and operations with events; classical, frequency and axiomatic definitions of probability; conditional probability and independence of events

Relative frequency and probability distributions: random variables and density functions for discrete variables; sample versus population means and standard-deviations; binomial probability distributions; normal distributions; histograms versus continuous probability density functions

Combinatorics: enumerative combinatorics; permutations and combinations; Pascal’s Triangle and Newton’s Binomial expansion; the Binomial Theorem; applications of probability calculations

Introduction to Differential Calculus II Exponential and logarithmic functions: analytical and graphical properties of exponential and logarithmic functions; rules for exponents and logarithms; modeling with exponential and logarithmic functions

Limits theory: Heine’s definition of the limit of a function and its properties; notable special limits; indeterminate forms of limits; asymptotes; continuity of functions, Bolzano-Cauchy’s Theorem; numerical applications

Differential calculus: Derivatives rules and applications; concavity and second derivatives; composite functions and their derivatives; properties of simple functions that can be determined by studying derivatives; optimization problems

Trigonometry and Complex Numbers

Trigonometry: intuitive study of the sine, cosine and tangent functions and their derivatives based on the unit circle; special limits of the sine function; use of trigonometry functions in modeling

Complex numbers: introduction to complex numbers; the imaginary unit; algebraic form of and operations with complex numbers in this form; trigonometric form of complex numbers and operations with complex numbers in this form; geometric interpretation of operations with complex numbers; complex variables in the geometric plane