Hope everyone is ready for a dive into the world of mathematics! The following is the syllabus!

Syllabus

Semester: Fall 2023

Duration: 40 Real hours (54 teaching hours), 3 real hours per class, 14 classes / 7 weeks

Lecturer: Dr. Baiyang Zhang

Office Address: N/A

Email: byzhang@henu.edu.cn

Lecture Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 2:30 - 5:30

Classroom: Monday at Teaching building Room 3502, Wednesday at Room 109 at the School of Economics

Textbooks and References:

  1. “Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics” by Chiang and Wainwright

  2. “Introduction to Probability” by Grinstead and Snell

  3. “Introduction to Linear Algebra” by Strang.

Course Objectives:  This course will include the basics of analysis, derivatives and integration, linear algebra, optimization, and probability, with the goal of preparing students for further course work within the School of Economics.

Assessment Policy: The assessments for this course will one final, in addition to several homework. Each item is scored on a percentage basis. The final score for the class is the weighted sum of the items’ scores.  The weights are as follows: final accounts for 70% of the final grade, and the homework account for the remaining 30% of the final grade.

In general, the final grade is an A when the final score is 85% or better, a B when the final score is between 70% and 84.9%, a C when the final score is between 60% and 69.9%, a D when the final score is between 50% and 59.9%, and an F when the final score is below 50%.  Assessment and final grades, however, may be curved to the benefit of the students.

Tentative Weekly Schedule:

CW = Chiang and Wainwright, GS = Grinstead and Snell, W = Wooldridge.

Additional review sessions may be scheduled in advance of exams.

Lecture Topics Reading
1 Introduction and Basics of Analysis CW, Ch. 1 and 2
2-4 Linear Algebra CW, Ch. 4 and 5
5-6 Derivatives CW, Ch. 6,7 and 8
7 Integrals CW, Ch. 14
8-10 Unconstrained Optimization CW, Ch. 9, 10, and 11
11 Constrained Optimization with Equality Constraints CW, Ch. 12
12 Probability Distributions and Combinatorics GS, Ch. 1, 2 and 3
13 Common Distributions and Conditional Probability GS, Ch. 4 and 5
14 Expected Values GS, Ch. 6