ETC2440: Mathematics for Economics and Business

Group Assignment 1 - 11%
Group Assignment 2 - 12%
Group Assignment 3 - 12%
Tute participation - 5%
Exam - 60%

Firstly, have a look at Reckoner's review here, as the content hasn't changed that much since then
Whilst this unit did seem a bit rushed, I still found it reasonable. Although this is the first maths unit that needs to be done by a student in the econometrics/actuarial science faculty, it still covered all the concepts reasonably well. My main gripe was that the proofs weren't taught that well, such that when it came to writing them down in the exam I had only half a clue of what to write, and ended up with 0/20 for that particular question.

Topics covered include matrix algebra, set theory, differentiation, limits and limit proofs, optimisation theory and integration (not examinable)

I thought the exam was reasonably straightforward, but there were some tricky parts here and there that undid me.

The exam consisted of 4 questions that were 20 marks each.

First question was matrix algebra, second optimisation theory, third on limits/ set algebra and last was called a "mystery question" that eventually turned out to be 4 proofs. I found myself to be a bit rushed with time, mainly due to it being a 9:30am exam and my brain not being fully switched on. Due to that, I may have done a bit worse than I expected, but the questions were very similar to the assignments/ tutorial exercises, so going through them and memorising proofs particularly in relation to the limit of a square root function is pretty key as these will help you immensely in the exam. Also, memorisation of things like De Morgan's law is critical, as if you know that then you should be set in the exam. There was a hurdle requirement originally of 50%, but this was revised to 40% where if you got in the range of 40-49 on the exam then the highest mark you could receive was 10% above that exam mark.
Tbh, this unit may seem a bit rushed, but John has revised it a lot over the years such that it is a pretty concise and succinct maths course to get your head around. I'd recommend going to Kanchana's consults though whenever you get stuck on something, as tutor help is critical to ensure that you do well in this unit.

These are relatively straightforward, as they're just going through questions that are very similar to the tutorial exercises. Groups are randomly allocated based on the tutorial session that you are in, so hope that you get a good group to maximise your marks. My group got 100%, 95% and 85% on the 3 assignments, indicating that they are pretty decent, such that as long as you have a decent grip on the coursework then you'll be fine. I'd recommend to start them as early as possible though, as some of the questions have tons of tricks in them that I had to rewrite them out a number of times. These can be either handwritten or typed, however handwritten is probably easier due to the number of notations that have to be written out. Assignments are dropped off in the submission box on the 7th floor of the Menzies building, and do not need to be submitted online, so handwriting them is definitely a good idea to clearly understand what the question is asking.

Dan Zhu - Covered the first part of the course on Matrix Algebra. She could be a bit difficult to understand, and also seemed a little lost with the content as she didn't write the slides herself, and looked like the first time she looked at them was in the lecture itself.

John Stapleton - Covered the remainder of the course from week 4 onwards. Very easy to understand, and even though he provided some weird analogies in the lectures they still helped explain the content reasonably well. Likes to interact with the audience, so normally kept me awake as the content is a bit dry. He's also the chief examiner for the unit, and this is his unit that he's run for the past couple of years, so if you're stuck on a question or unsure of what to revise for the exam, then head to his consults if you need.

Lectures were just going through the notes that John posted on Moodle roughly a day or two before he starts covering the topic in the lecture, or when Dan was covering the matrix algebra content. These are a bit dry though, so I'd recommend watching them at home (as long as the lecture recording works, as last sem due to it being in E3 the lecture recording broke down once and there was no alternative, so attend if you can). That being said, the content is still relatively straightforward to understand, but I'd recommend doing MTH1020/1030 if possible before this unit so that you can revise content learnt before high school, as a lot of knowledge is assumed which is critical to doing well in this course.

1 Practice Exam provided - however past exams were available from the Monash library database (which no longer exists), but are still very relevant to the current course

3.5 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture

Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics 4th edition is recommended, but not necessary as the lecture slides were detailed and covered everything you needed to know.

The tutes were pretty standard, you just go over the tutorial exercises which are posted at the end of the previous week for the following week. Tbh, sometimes it did seem that a lot of content was provided though, such that 1.5hrs was not enough time to go through all the questions posted. Practice questions were also included in the tutorial exercises, which were not covered in the tutes, but I'd advise for you to do them so you thoroughly understand what each part of the course is looking for. I had Kanchana as my tutor, who was great as she understood the content extremely well and tried to get the class involved as much as possible.

2x 1hr lectures per week
1 x 1.5hr tute per week

Semester 1, 2018

D

Assignments: 2 x 20%
Exam: 60%

Part 1 of the course is linear algebra (taught by Ralph), with the main topics of:

• Basic Matrix Algebra: addition, subtraction, various methods of multiplication of matrices. Very simple stuff.
• Square matrix equations: Gaussian elimination, LU decomposition, determinants, matrix inverse
• Rectangular matrix equations: overdetermined and underdetermined equation systems, orthogonal matrices, linear regression
• Random vectors: means, variances, sign of a matrix, eigenvalues, Cholesky factorisation
• Recurrence relationships: Geometric series, stationary state of recurrence relationships, stability matrices, Schur decomposition, higher order recurrence relationships
• Differential equations: A lot of the same stuff as recurrence relationships. Stationary state, closed form solutions.

Part 2 of the course is taught by John and covers:

• Sets, Functions and sequences: Epsilon-delta proofs of limits of sequences, and a whole bunch of definitions
• Continuous functions
• Differentiable functions: partial derivatives, total deriviatives, implicit differentiation, Taylor’s series approximation, concave and convex functions, homogenous functions
• Optimisations theory: unconstrained and constrained optimisation problems (Lagrangean method)

Not my favourite unit tbh. The topics are pretty rushed, as this unit is effectively the buseco equivalent of MTH2010 and MTH2032. If you have a passion for maths, I’d say you’d be better off doing MTH2010 and MTH2032. John’s part of the course is very solid though, just a lot crammed in. Ralphs isn’t as formal with definitions, and it can be a tricky to find what you actually need to know at stages, especially in Ralphs part of the course. if you haven’t touched maths before, this can make the unit pretty tough. Its hard to gauge how much detail you need to go into (especially for Ralphs part), so you can understand something sufficiently, but not know that you do. Which can make things a bit stressful

Tutes for part 1 of the course incorporate matlab. However you don’t really learn how to use matlab. You use it as nothing more than a calculator for inverses, schurr decompositions, eigenvalues etc. You also just work through that week’s questions. Not all that helpful, and the answers get uploaded at the end of the week. In John’s part of the course you no longer use matlab, the tutor just goes of the solutions. Solutions are not handed out for John’s tutes though, so better show up.

The assignments were very time consuming compared to other buseco ones I'd done, especially if this is the first “maths” unit that you’re doing at uni. Just stick to the definitions and methods in the lecture slides. Also the internet can be helpful.

The exam was surprisingly easy compared to the assignments and tute questions I found. There are 2 questions from each part of the course, but you only have to answer 3 out of the 4. If you can handle the past exams then you can handle this exam. Although the course has changed a tiny bit year to year, so not all topics you cover have past exam questions. But if they aren't in the past exams, there's a high chance that something similar to the assignments will be there. You also don’t get given solutions to the past exams.

Do I recommend it? In most cases no. If it were only John’s topics I would, but the linear algebra isn’t too interesting. Also, if you’re really interested in maths, probably best to do actual maths units. And if you don’t like maths, well don’t do any maths. However if you’re looking at higher level economics, econometrics, finance, actuarial studies or financial maths; and don’t have enough units left in your degree to do MTH1030 and MTH2010 (or aren’t the greatest at maths, it’s a bit easier than MTH units!) then I would say it’s worthwhile.
In short, if you have this deep burning passion for maths then perhaps look elsewhere, as its pretty diluted. If you're a com/eng or com/sci (maths major) then you would have covered the material already. If you hate maths stay away. But if you fall in the middle and feel like developing your maths skills then yes, give it a go. Just be prepared to be confused at numerous stages, as its not easy.

Ralph Snyder (Part 1 - Linear Algebra): Lectures move pretty slowly, and can be hard to pay attention too because his voice is pretty monotonous. However, if you don't have the textbook, it is wort hat least watching the lectures online. The lecture slides that are provided are pretty hard to follow by themselves. So if you don't know much about the maths, looking at the lecture slides with no background of the material (whether it be from the lectures, previous units, youtube etc.) can be a struggle at first.

John Stapleton (Part 2 -Calculus): Fantastic Lecturer (saved the unit for me). Lectures were engaging. Lecture slides were thorough, fairly rigorous and could be treated as a resource by themselves unlike with Ralph's. He does cover a lot of material each lecture though.

Yes, about 6 but with no solutions. Tutors were instructed to not hand out any solutions to them either.

2 out of 5

Yes

Alpha C. Chiang and Kevin Wainwright (2005), Fundamental Methods of Mathematical
Economics, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill.

Meant to be a pretty good textbook from what I've heard (didn't have it myself). But it is NOT necessary for this unit (depite being prescribed) unless you want to look into what you learn much deeper.

Two 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour tutorial/comp lab

2014 Semester 1

HD