SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

FACULTY OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES MASTERS DEGREES IN ECONOMICS 2014-2015

PRELIMINARY MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS COURSES
All of our MSc programmes, that is the MSc Development Economics, MScs Development Economics with reference to a Region, MSc in Finance and Development, MSc in Economics with reference to Environment and Development, MSc Research for International Development, th and MSc Political Economy of Development, begin on Monday 8 September 2014 with compulsory preliminary courses in Mathematics and Statistics (including Computing). These are th taught over a three-week period which ends on Friday 26 September 2014. The teaching is in three parts: th The first covers the mathematics component of the course and will run from the 8 September to the th th 16 September. The second part covers the statistics component of the course and runs from 17 th September to the 24 September. The third is a computing component, in which each student attends two workshops. Thursday 25 September is a revision day. On Friday 26 September 2014 there will be a three-hour examination. Performance in the examination will act as an indicator of the students ability to complete the MSc. The course is intended to be a refresher course: the material covered will be the mathematics and statistics normally taught in the undergraduate programme of a BSc Economics degree. The course will provide the essential foundation for the MSc modules in Quantitative Methods, Statistical Research Techniques, Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. It will be assumed that all students are familiar with elementary algebra, calculus and probability theory, including: Functional relationships and graphs Equations and inequalities Solutions to linear and quadratic equations Solution of simple simultaneous equations The concept of a derivative and rules for differentiation Basic probability theory Random variables and distributions Topics covered include the following: th th Maths. Monday 8 to Tuesday 16 Sept. inclusive (7 days) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1. Linear Algebra 2. Calculus 3. Exponential and Logarithmic Functions 4. Optimisation 5. Constrained Optimisation Statistics: Wednesday 17 to Wednesday 24 Sept. inclusive (6 days) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1. Descriptive Statistics 2. Probability theory and random variables 3. Probability models and distributions 4. Point and interval estimation 5. Small and large sample properties of estimators 6. Hypothesis testing Computing: Friday 12 to Friday 19 Sept. inclusive 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in L62: (6 days). 1. On-line resources: Web based sources of development data (ESDS). Citation Indexes (IBSS, Social Science Citations Index). Full-text articles available over the Internet (JSTOR, EBSCOhost, EconLit). Using the internet for research. 2. Introduction to Excel: Statistical functions. Descriptive statistics using the Data Analysis Toolpak. Array functions for matrix manipulation.
th th th th th th

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

FACULTY OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
The following textbooks will also be useful for the course: Mathematics: C. Chiang and K. Wainwright, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics , 4th Edition. McGraw- Hill, 2005. E. T. Dowling, Introduction to Mathematical Economics, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill, 2000. I., Jacques, Mathematics for Economics and Business, 6th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2009. R L Thomas, Using Mathematics in Economics, 2nd Edition, Addison-Wesley Longman, 1999 Statistics: D. Gujarati and D.C. Porter, Basic Econometrics, 5th Edition, Mc-Graw-Hill, 2009; Particularly the Statistical Appendix. M. Barrow, Statistics for Economics, Accounting and Business Studies ,5th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2009. R. L. Thomas, Using Statistics in Economics. McGraw-Hill, 2005. CLASS ROOM SESSIONS WILL BE HELD IN ROOM V111 AT THE VERNON SQUARE CAMPUS from 10 am 1 pm
DAY DATE TIME ROOM TOPICS COVERED

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 12th

10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 2 - 5pm

V111 V111 V111 V111 V111 L62

Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics Computer workshop

COMPUTER WORKSHOP SESSIONS WILL BE HELD IN ROOM L62 = Lower ground floor-IN THE PHILLIPS BUILIDNG AT THE MAIN RUSSELL SQUARE CAMPUS from 2 pm5 pm.
DAY DATE TIME MORNING SESSION AFTERNOON SESSION ROO M TIME ROOM

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

15th 16th 17th 18th 19th

10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 -1pm 10 - 1pm

Mathematics Mathematics Statistics Statistics Statistics

MORNING SESSION

V111 V111 V111 V111 V111

Computer workshop Computer workshop Computer workshop Computer workshop Computer workshop

2-5pm 2-5pm 2-5pm 2-5pm 2-5pm

L62 L62 L62 L62 L62

DAY

DATE

TIME

ROOM

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th

10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm 10 - 1pm

Statistics Statistics Statistics Revision day Exam

V111 V111 V111 V111 V111

If you have any queries please contact the Faculty of Law & Social Sciences at economics@soas.ac.uk