Math 4 (44340) - Summer 2011
Math for Economists
Lecturer
Neil Donaldson
Office
Rowland Hall 440U
Office Hours
11-12 MWF
Email
ndonalds@math.uci.edu
Lecture Times
MWF 9-10.50 pm, RH 101
Discussion Session
MWF 8-8.50 pm, RH 101
Teaching Assistant
Ani Asatryan
Email
aasatrya@uci.edu
Course Text & Structure
-
We will be covering large parts of chapters 7--13 of
Mathematics for Economics
: Hoy et al, MIT Press
The sensible way to obtain the necessary chapters (unless you already have a copy) is to buy the Math 4
coursepacket from the UCI bookstore.
-
Tentative
Syllabus
-
Homework
Questions
will be set each week, directly from the text (make sure you have a copy!), some of which are to be handed in by the
end of Friday's discussion class. Homework must be handed to the TA or it is late! Selected answers will be posted on
the website.
Assessment
-
One midterm will be given on Friday 8th July in class.
-
The Final will be during normal class time (9-11am) on Wednesday 27th July.
-
Your grade will be computed as follows: Final Exam 45%, Midterm 25%, Homework 30%
-
Only the questions you are asked to hand in on the weekly homework will count and be graded. If you especially want your
answer to another question to be graded, please indicate! The best thing to do with extra questions is to bring them to
office hours/discussion where they can be dealt with.
Thoughts about the class
-
Much of the course material (like economics) is abstract. There is only one way to approach the course - do as many
questions as you can! Especially in summer classes, it is easy to fall behind and, in math, where everything builds on
previous mateiral, it is very hard to get into a class once you've fallen behind.
-
I don't curve. You will get an A if your work deserves it, without reference to the work of other students (I'm quite
happy to give everyone an A if the class is that good). Since you are not in competition with your classmates you should
use them as a resource: talk to them and compare approaches to questions. You will learn more discussing with other
people that you will from me.
-
Don't plan any vacations during class time as I won't accept such as a reason for a make-up test. Summer classes move
extremely quickly so if you are unwilling to sign up to attend EVERY class you should not be signing up at all.