MATH-UA 131 – 011 / 016 — MFE I

· Term: Fall 2024

· Prerequisite:  SAT / AB / … scores, Placement exam, or C or more in Precalculus

· Email: Office:

· Office hours: Thursdays 9:30 – 11:00, WWH 805

· Lectures:  MW 8:00 – 9:15 AM, Silver 207 (Sec 11)

TR 8:00 – 9:15 AM, WWH 109 (Sec 16)

· Recitations: Fridays, register and check details on Albert

Course information

This is the first semester of a sequence designed to give you the intuition to think about economic ideas in mathematical terms and interpret mathematical concepts in the context of economics. Your understanding of economics and mathematics both will improve after this sequence.

Mathematics is increasingly important in terms of the expression and communication of ideas in economics. A thorough knowledge of mathematics is indispensable for understanding almost all fields of economics, including both applied and theoretical fields. In particular, understanding of elements of calculus and linear algebra are crucial to the study of economics, and this class is designed to provide such appropriate mathematical tools. The formal derivations of the mathematical concepts needed will be the heart of this class. Economic models can often be easily and precisely described in terms of mathematical notation, when words and graphs would fail or mislead us. Therefore, as applications of the mathematical concepts covered in class, examples and motivation will be drawn from important topics in economics.

Some key topics, roughly in order of their appearance in the course, include:

• notion of functions, classical functions;

• limits and continuity;

• derivatives and their interpretation; differentiation rules;

• inverse functions, exponential functions, logarithmic functions;

• linear approximation, elasticity;

• local and global extrema, higher-order derivatives, convexity;

• function of several variables, partial derivatives;

• optimization for functions of several variables.

Class material

Books

· Essential Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 2^nd ed., by James Stewart.

· Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis (4^th or 5^th ed.), Sydsaeter & al.

The course will mostly follow Stewart’s book. Sydsaeter’s book contains more applications to economics and is also recommended if you intend to follow up with MFE II. The course will be self-contained and you are not required to obtain either textbook. It is still recommended that you get Stewart’s book (in any way format that you desire) as you can use it as a reference and to get more details on the topics covered in class. MFE II and MFE III will also use Stewart’s book.

Campuswire

Campuswire is an online forum. This is where you should ask any questions regarding the course. For personal questions, please do not send me an email, and instead DM me on Campuswire. I will periodically answer questions on Campuswire, but it should first and foremost remain your own platform. Campuswire is accessible through Brightspace.

Gradescope

Your homework will have to be scanned and submitted on Gradescope before the deadline. After it is graded, you will see your grade and the comments from the grader there. Gradescope is available through Brightspace. You will receive a link to register at the beginning of the term. Quizzes will also be administered through Gradescope.

Google Drive

All course documents, assignments, and their solutions are available in the Google Drive (link on Brightspace).

Course organization

A typical week will consist of two lectures, one recitation, one homework assignment, and one quiz. Please see the schedule for details.

· We will meet twice every week for lectures.

· On Fridays, you will have a recitation with your TA to work on some exercises covering the topics of the current week.

· A homework assignment will be due on Sunday. It will contain more advanced and conceptual questions, as well as applications to economics.

· One quiz on these topics will be due on Gradescope on Monday. You can do the quiz any time on Monday, and you will have 20 minutes to complete it.

Grading policy

Your final grade will be calculated with the following weights.

· Homework (15%). The lowest grade will be dropped.

· Attendance in recitation (4%). Two absences are allowed. -1% for each subsequent absence, for any reason.

· Presenting exercises in recitation (3 x 2%). For writing an exercise on the blackboard during recitation.

· Quizzes (5%). The two lowest grades are dropped (including missed assignments).

· Midterm (30%). See schedule.

· Final exam (40%). See schedule. The final will count for 50% if it is better than the midterm, 40% otherwise.

Your grade out of 100 will then be computed and translated into a letter grade according to the following cutoffs. These cutoffs may be adjusted to your advantage.

Class policies

Absences

Missing lectures will hinder your ability to keep up with the class. In exceptional circumstances when you need to miss a class, catch up asap using the notes and documents available in the Google drive.

There is no need to let your instructor know of an absence, except if you miss an exam. In this case, you have to let your instructor know in advance. Absence will only be excused in case of illness, religious observation, family emergencies, or university-sanctioned events. Exams 1 will need to be made up within a week. If you miss Exam 2 and are in good standing in the class, you will be given an Incomplete and will need to take the exam later (typically at the beginning of the next term).

Please let your instructor know asap of any circumstance that would hinder your ability to keep up with the class for a significant amount of time.

Missed assignments

No delay will be accepted for any reason to hand in homework, so make sure to upload your work to Gradescope in advance. Assignments that are not uploaded on time will count as 0. You can resubmit an assignment as many times as you wish until the deadline, but only your final version will be checked. Make sure that you upload all the pages and match each page with each exercise.

Since quizzes are online and you have 24h to do them, no extension will be given. Once you open the quiz, you have 30 minutes to finish it. If you encounter any issue, you can still go back to the quiz within these 30 minutes. Your answers are automatically recorded, even if you do not click on the “submit” button.

The platforms are very easy to use and set up for your convenience. It is thus your responsibility to learn how to use Gradescope using the resources provided. Therefore, having “technical issues” is not a reason for missed or incomplete work.

What if I am feeling sick?

Please stay home and follow NYU’s guidelines. The rules outlined in the previous paragraphs still apply, and you should let your instructor know in advance if you cannot make it to an exam.

Please note that this is an in-person class. You cannot “opt-in” to take it online or remotely, and the lectures will not be available on Zoom.

Grade appeal

Assignments will be graded within a week. You then have three days to request a regrade. You should do so through the “Regrade request” feature on Gradescope. Before doing this, please make sure to read the solution carefully, and understand if your work was correct and complete. Typical reasons for losing points despite a correct answer are:

· no explanation was given;

· details of the computation were not written;

· the work was illegible or too dirty;

· part of a question was not answered.

Please keep in mind that grading mistakes can happen, but are rare, so the regrading feature should be used parsimoniously, and abuses will be punished.

Communication

Questions regarding the class should be asked publicly on Campuswire. However, please check beforehand that the answer is not already answered there, and that the information is not already available in the syllabus or in the schedule. To discuss personal matters, send a DM on Campuswire. Please do not ask for exceptions or extensions since none will be granted. In any message that you send, please observe basic rules of respect and politeness, and allow a reasonable amount of time for an answer. You can call your instructor Prof. / Professor (Normand).

Tutoring

The math department and the University Learning Center provide free tutoring. See details on Brightspace.

Calculators

Calculators are not allowed during quizzes or exams. For homework assignments, you may use a calculator or computational software to check your results, to perform. tedious algebra (like adding fractions or a lot of numbers), or to compute approximations (e.g., logarithms or exponentials). However, all “calculus” computations (computing derivatives, integrals, etc.) and formal algebra should be done by hand, with all details shown. To know how many details you should show, follow this rule of thumb: between one line and the next one, you should be able to do all computations in your head.

Tests

No calculators, course notes, book, or any other documents are allowed during the exams. For quizzes, you can use your notes, the book, and any document available in the Google Drive. You may not use any calculator, computing software, AI, or any other type of assistance. Quizzes should be done by yourself without the assistance of anyone else. Any suspicion of cheating will be investigated and punished.