To a mathematician math is an end in itself; to the chemist and chemistry student it is a means to an end: a tool. Little in chemistry can be studied and understood without the aid of mathematics. Since math will be an important tool for you it is best if you learn to use this tool efficiently.
Efficiency at doing anything comes through practice; you learn to do something by doing it. The problems in this Tutorial are for your practice. You should do these problems over and over until you can do them automatically. Then when the time comes to use these skills in a chemistry problem you can pay attention to the principle illustrated by the problem and not get lost in the use of math.
If you have to spend what seems like an extraordinary amount of time on these problems, then, definitely, you need to practice and the time spent will repay you many times over during the semester. It may even make the difference between doing well and dropping out. The two math skills covered in this Tutorial are: (1) exponential arithmetic and (2) significant figures.
EXPONENTIAL ARITHMETIC: The basics are given in Appendix A, section A.1, pp 1012-1014, of your lecture text.
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