FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
CAVE HILL, CAMPUS

ECON 1003 COURSE SYLLABUS

SEMESTER I, 2017

Course code and title ECON 1003 – Maths for Social Sciences I

Academic unit Department of Economics

Level 1

Credits 3

Prerequisites GRADE 1 at CXC CSEC Mathematics (General

Proficiency) or an A at Cambridge GCE O’Level
Mathematics or a pass in ECON 0101 or a Pass in the
Mathematics Proficiency Test

Lectures Monday: 7:00 pm -8:00 pm LT1;

Wednesday: 5:00 pm -7:00 pm LT 1.

Lecturer Information Lecturer: Mr. Eustace Edwards

Office Hours: To Be Announced
Or by Appointment
Room:S2

Overview of the Course

This course introduces students to the mathematical principles necessary for students
pursuing higher level courses in the Faculty of Social Sciences. The purpose of this 3-credit
course in mathematics is to help students develop the mathematical skills needed to function
effectively in a society where one needs to demonstrate logical thinking. Students in the
course will be exposed to tools that enable them to analyse and organize materials to achieve
that objective. These mathematical skills would also allow students to contribute to the
formation of new knowledge and support the vision of an ideal UWI graduate.

Course goals
The goals of this course are to:
 Facilitate exploration and analysis of basic concepts in mathematics specifically -
functions, linear algebra and calculus.
 Demonstrate the effective use of mathematical tools in social science

Specific learning outcomes

Many courses in the social sciences presume familiarity with several important mathematical
concepts. Students in the social sciences thus need a variety of mathematical skills to
successfully complete their degree requirements, and by extension, be successful in their

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chosen career. The purpose of this course is to cull the mathematical tools, s and techniques
relevant for social sciences today. On successful completion of this course, students should be
able to:
 Use set notation and perform set operations
 Evaluate functions
 Prepare graphs from functions
 Define a series
 Distinguish between arithmetic and geometric series
 Evaluate arithmetic and geometric terms and for each sum to a given number of terms
 Use calculus to differentiate functions applying simple algebraic techniques, product,
and quotient rules
 Use the second derivative to find maximum or minimum of a function
 Evaluate/compute the integral of functions
 Use matrix techniques to solve systems of linear equations by inverse or Cramers’
rule method

Teaching and learning methods

This course will be mainly delivered through interactive lectures and student-led tutorial
discussions. Tutorial assignments will be posted on e-learning and are designed to help
students flesh out concepts and practice the application of the logic and concepts to a
range of problem situations. These are important in this course since they provide the basis
for formal practice and assist in reinforcing the concepts introduced in lectures.

The E-learning Website should be visited frequently by each student to access lecture notes,
messages from the lecturer, coursework grades, tutorial assignments and course notices.

You are reminded that courses such as Mathematics require lots of practice. You will be
required to read the lecture materials from one of the course texts, participate in the in-class
discussion of that material and supplement both these activities by competing the practice
questions and quizzed via links on the course page on e-learning.

Supplementary learning material

Notes, chapters from books will be posted on e-learning

Time dedicated to course per week

Students will be provided with a minimum of four (4) contact hours a week: three (3) hours
for lectures and one (1) hour for tutorials.

Assignments will be provided for each tutorial and these assignments must be done (or at the
very least attempted) before each tutorial. Students should spend at least 6 hours reading
course materials and preparing tutorial assignments before each class.

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Course Content

The following topics will be addressed:

(1) CXC CSEC MATHEMATICS REVIEW

 Basic Algebra
 Fractions
 Linear equations
 Quadratic equations
 Simultaneous equations
 Indices
 Intervals
 Absolute values

(2) SET THEORY

 Set notation
 Sets of numbers
 Set operations
 Venn Diagrams and Set Operations
 Properties of Set Operators – Commutative laws for union and intersection;
Associative laws for union and intersection; Distributive law for union and
intersection; Distributive law for intersection; De Morgan laws
 Venn diagrams and the number of elements in a finite set

(3) FUNCTIONS AND THEIR GRAPHS

 Domain and range of a function.
 Evaluating functions
 Composite and compound functions
 Special functions (constant, polynomial, rational, exponentials and logarithms)
 Inverse of a function
 Application of functions (demand functions, supply functions, revenue functions,
cost functions, profit functions and production functions)
 The remainder and factor theorem

(4) SEQUENCES, SERIES AND BASIC FINANCIAL MATHS

 Terms of a sequence and a series
 The arithmetic and geometric series
 Simple interest, compound interest, future value and present value

(5) LIMITS/CONTINUITY
 Concepts of a limit
 One sided limits
 Limits of polynomial and rational functions
 Limits to infinity
 Continuous and discontinuous functions
 Types of discontinuity

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(6) DIFFERENTIATION
 Definition of a derivative
 General rules of differentiation – derivative of a constant; power rule; constant
factor rule; sums and differences; product rule; quotient rule; chain rule
 Differentiation of exponential and logarithmic functions
 Higher order derivatives.

(7) APPLICATION OF DERIVATIVES

 Increasing and decreasing functions
 Local vs global maxima or minima
 Optimisation – find maximum and minimum values
 Points of Inflection
 Concavity and Convexity
 Curve sketching
 Using Derivatives in Business and Economics

(8) INTEGRATION
 Integration as the inverse of differentiation
 General rules of integration (constant.
 Integration by substitution
 Finding the constant of integration
 Definite Integral
 Area under the curve
 Using integration in economics and business

(9) MATRIX ALGEBRA

 Matrix operations
 Solving equations with up to three variables by the inverse method or Cramers’
rule.

Assessment

 In class quiz on topics 1-3 worth 30% of the final mark. Date in October.

 Take home assignment on topics 2-5 and will be worth 10% of the final mark. Date to
be announced.

Coursework (40% of final mark)

Final exam (60% of final mark)

The final exam will be based on Topics 5 - 9.

NB: Manuals are available from the Department of Economics. The manual contains
all the notes and additional practice questions. The cost is $40.

4 September 2017
Mr. Eustace Edwards