Mathematics Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This is an introductory level course for those who wish to use mathematics in economics, social science, or in any other context. A range of basic mathematical concepts and methods is introduced, ranging from calculus, used to study the impact of a marginal change of one or multiple variables, to differential and difference equations analysing the change of dynamical systems over time. These methods enable students to analyse, for example, economic questions involving multiple constraints, such as prices, quantities and budgets, and identifying optimal solutions.

This course is intended to prepare students for the use of mathematics in economic theory courses, or in other fields that require the use of quantitative reasoning and techniques and accustom students to using mathematical methods in their studies.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students  in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures/seminars/workshops

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Dedicated mathematics support will be available to all students during teaching weeks.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Students will solve problems and exercises by drawing on their mathematical and formal reasoning skills, in particular within a social science or economics context, as well as other fields that benefit from a quantitative approach. Students will need to choose the correct problem solving techniques for the issue under consideration, display a sound understanding of mathematical topics and techniques by applying these quantitative methods to solving problems, produce artefacts such as graphs or equations, and express their solutions in a clear and coherent manner.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• M Anthony & N L Biggs, Mathematics for Economics and Finance: Methods and Modelling, CUP, 1996.

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Sets, functions, equations, graphs
• Differentiation
• Partial Differentiation
• Optimisation in one and two variables: unconstrained and constrained
• Integration
• Differential and difference equations