INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS

Course outline

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Period: 6-10 September 2010.

Timetable: 18:00 h - 21:00 h.

Venue: Room Banco Espírito Santo (Quelhas building).

Contact hours: 15 hours.

Class size: 10-45.

Teaching language: Portuguese.

Pre-requisites: 12th grade Mathematics.

Academic staff

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João Ferreira do Amaral (Course leader)

Aims

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• To refresh undergraduate knowledge in Mathematics to the new students of the M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes.
• To provide students lacking undergraduate courses in Mathematics all the instruments needed to attend a graduate programme in ISEG.

Syllabus

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1. Sequences and real functions in one variable. Continuity. Monotonicity, concavity, and convexity. Some important functions.
2. Differential and integral calculus for functions in one variable. Elasticities. Growth rates.
3. Real functions of multiple variables. Differential and integral calculus. Optimization.
4. Differential and difference equations. Dynamic systems.
5. Matrices. Matrix calculus. Determinants. Solving systems of linear equations.

Main readings

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• Sydsaeter, Knut; Hammond, Peter (2008). Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis, 3rd Ed. Prentice Hall.
• Chiang, Alpha; Wainwright, Kevin (2005). Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, 4th Ed. McGraw Hill. International Edition.

Additional readings

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• Amaral, João Ferreira do; Serra, António Almeida; Estêvão, João (2008). Economia do Crescimento. Almedina (particularly the Mathematical Appendix).

Assessment

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TBA.

Links

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• Mathematical Economics
• M.Sc. in Economics
• M.Sc. in Monetary and Financial Economics
• Ph.D. Programme in Economics
• Introduction to Econometrics
• A Summer Study Guide for New Students of the M.Sc. in Economics and M.Sc. in Monetary and Financial Economics (disponível no Aquila)