Description:
| 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.
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