Department of Economics & International Development, Unit Catalogue 2008/09 |
EC10130 Core skills for economists: mathematics 1 |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Certificate |
| Academic Year |
| Assessment: TE 30%, EX 70% |
| Requisites: |
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In order to take this unit you must have A level Mathematics (or equivalent). Single honours students must take EC10153 whilst taking this unit.
Aims: To provide students with knowledge of areas of mathematics that are relevant to undergraduate economics and to prepare them for more advanced units in economics and econometrics.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course unit, students should be able to understand key mathematical concepts, solve mathematical problems, and apply mathematics to economic problems. Skills: Students will develop mathematical skills, specifically as listed below. Content: * Differentiation: differentiation of functions of one variable: rules of differentiation, stationary points, higher order derivatives, concavity and convexity, point of inflection, differentiation of exponential and logarithmic functions, concepts of marginals and elasticities, single variable optimization problems. * Partial Differentiation: differentiation of functions of more than one variable; higher order partial derivatives, total differentials, implicit differentiation, homogeneous functions and Euler's theorem, concepts of marginals and elasticities. * Integration: indefinite integration as the reverse of differentiation. Definite integration and the area under a curve. * Matrices: matrix operations; determinants; matrix inversion; solution of system of linear equations by matrix inversion; Cramer's rule; quadratic forms: definiteness, characteristic root and characteristic vector. * Concavity and convexity of functions of more than one variable; unconstrained and constrained optimization problems involving more than one variable. Key texts: A.C. Chiang Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics I. Jacques Mathematics for Economics and Business. |