Having good maths skills are important for everyday life. In fact, you may have never noticed how often you use maths on a day-to-day basis. This free course is an introduction to Level 2 Functional Skills in maths that’s designed to inspire you to improve your current maths skills and help you to remember any areas that you may have forgotten.

Working through the examples and interactive activities in this course will help you to, among other things, calculate how much paint you'll need for decorating, convert currencies or make progress in your career or further education. To complete this course you will need access to a calculator, a notepad and pen, and a protractor.

Enrolling on this course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. The badge is a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject. What you learn by completing the course will really help if you wish to enrol on a formal qualification. Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from your OpenLearn Profile. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn Statement of participation – which also displays your badge.

This course has been produced as part of the Department for Education’s Flexible Learning Fund    and with the kind support of Dangoor Education , the educational arm of The Exilarch’s Foundation.

This course was written by West Herts College in partnership with Bedford College Group, Middlesbrough College and The Open University.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Understand practical problems in familiar and unfamiliar contexts and situations
• Identify the problems to be solved and identify the mathematical methods needed to solve them
• Select mathematical methods in an organised way to find solutions
• Apply a range of mathematics in an organised way to find solutions to straightforward practical problems
• Use appropriate checking procedures at each stage
• Interpret and communicate solutions to multi-stage practical problems drawing simple conclusions and giving appropriate justifications.