ECON30020: Mathematical Economics

5 assignments (individual) throughout the semester worth 10% each - your 4 best marks will be counted
Final exam worth 60%

Content-wise, the subject is split into three parts:
- univariate calculus and optimisation
- linear algebra
- multivariate calculus

I really wanted to like this subject. Despite my high hopes, it unfortunately ended up being my least enjoyable.

Backstory - I did ECON20002 Intermediate Microeconomics in 2nd year with the legendary duo Svetlana Danilkina as my lecturer and Daniel Tiong as my tutor. They made me, an arts student with a horrific maths background (raw 34 in VCE Methods) become fascinated with the maths of economics. When Daniel suggested to me to do Maths Econ in 3rd year (which Svetlana taught and he also tutored for), I was doubtful as I barely passed high school maths, but I decided to go for it.

Well, plot twist - a new coordinator came by the time I entered 3rd year. This subject ended up being a dumpster fire. The subject guide was released only about two weeks after the semester started, the Canvas page was horribly disorganised (lecture recordings were posted on the home page instead of under 'lecture capture'), and for some incomprehensible reason, Simon refused to annotate slides - instead, he wrote on spare pieces of paper, using a ballpoint pen that made markings his camera could barely pick up, and at the end of each lecture, posted photos of these scribbles for the rest of us to decipher.

The only saving grace was Svetlana who uploaded her own notes (typed up, too, so that they were actually legible) each week, oversaw the discussion board and answered all questions. What I found amusing was that the subject coordinator actually put a disclaimer on Svetlana's notes saying that these are not official course notes. They certainly were much more helpful than the "official" ones he put up.

Disorganised was honestly too mild of a word to describe it. Our first assignment was literally released an entire week late, and was actually only uploaded when multiple students emailed the lecturer or their tutor saying that they couldn't find it. When it was finally uploaded, it was actually Svetlana, not the subject coordinator, who made the announcement letting students know that the assignment was finally released.

And if you think I am going a bit hard on this subject coordinator, I wasn't the only one with complaints. My tutorial size dropped from 21 students in the first week to only 3 by the census date. Yes - I repeat - THREE. Also, from reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/unimelb/comments/lxj867/thoughts_on_econ30020_mathematical_economics_2021/
For future students - only take this subject if the coordinator is Svetlana.

Yes, with screen capture

Simon Loertscher

Yes, but the course was significantly changed in 2021.

0 out of 5

Mathematics for Economics, 3rd ed, Hoy et al

1 x 2 hr lecture and 1 x 1 hr tutorial per week

2021 Semester 1

H1 (85)