mathematics for Economists M1 2021/22: lab session 5 pmaraner@unibz.

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basic arithmetic
numbers
Exercise 55. Explain what is a natural number, a relative number, a rational
number and a real number.
solution: A natural number is a positive integer (1, 2, 3 etc.); the set of all natural numbers is denoted by N. A relative number

is a positive or negative or zero integer (0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, etc.); the set of all relative numbers is denoted by Z. A rational

number is any number that can be written as the quotient of two integer numbers (with the divisor not equal to zero); the decimal

representation of a rational number is finite or recurring (0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1

2
= 0.5, 2
3
= 0.6̄, etc.); the set of all rational

numbers is denoted by Q. A real number is a number that can be determined by a possible infinite, possible not recurring, decimal
p
representation (0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1
2
= 0.5, 2
3
= 0.6̄, 2 = 1.414213..., ⇡ = 3, 141592..., e = 2.718281... etc.); the set of all

real numbers is denoted by R.

Exercise 56. Divide 111 by 2, 3, 37 and 38. What is the remainder in each case?
solution: 111
2
= 55·2+1
2
= 55 + 1
2
, the remainder is 1; 111
3
= 37·3
3
= 37, the remainder is 0; 111
37
= 37·3
37
= 3, the remainder is 0;

111
38
= 38·2+35
38
= 2 + 35
38
, the remainder is 35.

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Exercise 57. Write the fraction 30
as a decimal number. Write the decimal number
1.12 as a fraction and simplify.
⇣ ⌘
110
/ 1 = 3·3+2 · 1 = 1 = 3 + 2 · 1 = 0.3 + 20 · 1 = 0.3 + 6·3+2 · 1 = 0.3 + 6 · 1 + 2 · 1 =
solution: 11
30
= 30
/
· 10 3 10
3+ 2
3
· 10 10 3 10 3 100 3 100 100 3 100
/·2
1 + 2 · 1 = 112 = 2·2·2 /·7
= 0.36 + 20
3
1
· 1000 = ... = 0.36666... = 0.36̄; 1.12 = 1 + 1 · 10 100 100 2·2
/ /·5·5
= 28
25
.

percentages
Exercise 58. Evaluate 20% of 15.
20 = 15 · 1 = 3.
solution: Twenty percent of 15 is 15 · 20% = 15 · 100 5

Exercise 59. What is more, 4.5% of 200 or 3% of 300? Give a reason for your
answer.
4.5 = 2 · 4.5 = 9, 3% of 300 is 300 · 3% = 300 · 3 = 9. They are equal.
solution: 4.5% of 200 is 200 · 4.5% = 200 · 100 100

Exercise 60. In 2014, 206,000 people visited Kronplatz which was 3% more that
2013. How may people visited Kronplatz in 2013?
solution: Say that N people visited Kronplatz in 2013. Then N + N · 3% = 206,000 or N · 1.03 = 206,000 or N = 206,
000
1.03
= 200,000.

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powers, roots and logarithms
Exercise 61. Explain the meaning of 25 and evaluate it.
5 times
z }| {
solution: The power “2 raised to the power of 5” (or to the 5th), is the product of multiplying 5 times 2 by itself, 25 = 2 · 2 · 2 · 2 · 2.

Therefore, 25 = 32.

p
5
Exercise 62. Explain the meaning of 32 and evaluate it.
p
solution: The 5th root of 32 is the number that raised to the power 5 equals 32. Since 25 = 32, 5 32 = 2.

Exercise 63. Explain the meaning of log2 32 and evaluate it.

solution: The logarithm with base 2 of the argument (or antilogarithm) 32 is the number to which it must be raised the base 2 to

obtain the argument 32. Since 25 = 32, log2 32 = 5.

p
3
p
4
Exercise 64. What is log3 9 27 ? What is 16 + log2 8 ?
solution: 2 3= 1; 2 + 3 = 5.

basic algebra
symbols and algebraic expressions
Exercise 65. Write down an expression for r% of S. Say that r and S are un-
specified positive integers.
r = S·r = Sr .
solution: S · r% = S · 100 100 100

pp y
Exercise 66. What is xy ? What is ( y x) ? What is logx xy ? What is xlogx y ?
y

Say that x and y are unspecified positive integers.

p
y p
y x y = x; log xy = y; xlogx y = y (these are the defining properties of the root and of the logarithm
solution: xy = x; x

respectively).

Exercise 67. Write down a binomial of degree one in the variable x with constant
term 3 and coefficient of the linear term 2. Write down the most general binomial
of degree one in the variable x.
solution: 2x + 3 and ax + b with a and b arbitrary real numbers.

Exercise 68. Write down a trinomial of degree two in the variable x with constant
term 3, coefficient of the linear term 1 and coefficient of the quadratic term 2.
Write down the most general trinomial of degree two in the variable x.
solution: 2x2 x 3 and ax2 + bx + c with a, b and c arbitrary real numbers.

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Exercise 69. Write down the most general polynomial of degree two in the vari-
ables x and y.
solution: ax2 + by 2 + cxy + dx + ey + f with a, b, c, d, e and f arbitrary real numbers.

expansion and factorization

Exercise 70. Expand the following expressions
1. (x2 + 3x 1)(2x 1) 2. (2x 3)2 3. (2x 3)(2x + 3).
solution: 1. 3x3 + 5x2 5x + 1; 2. 4x2 12x + 9; 3. 4x2 9.

Exercise 71. Factorize the following expressions

1. x3 3x2 + 2x 2. x2 + 2x + 1 3. 9x2 4.
solution: 1. x(x2 3x + 2); 2. (x + 1)2 ; 3. (3x 2)(3x + 2).

Exercise 72. Complete the square of the binomial

1. x2 + 2x 2. x2 8x 3. x2 3x.
⇣ ⌘2
solution: 1. x2 + 2x = (x + 1)2 1; 2. x2 8x = (x 4)2 16; 3. x2 3x = x 3
2
9.
4

equations/inequalities and simultaneous equations

Exercise 73. Find S is such a way that its 4% is equal to 8.
4S = 8 or S = 200.
solution: 100

Exercise 74. Solve the linear (first degree) equations

2 5 1 2
1. 2x 4=0 2. x x 3. x + y 1 = 0.
3 2 2 3
solution: 1. x = 2; 2. x 11; 3. x ! k and y ! 1 k with k any number.

Exercise 75. Solve the quadratic (second degree) equations/inequalities and fac-
torize the corresponding trinomial
1. x2 3x + 2 = 0 2. x2 x 1=0 3. x2 4x + 4 = 0
4. x2 x+1>0 5. 4x2 1<0 6. 4x2 + x 0.
p p ⇣ p ⌘⇣ p ⌘
solution: 1. x = 1 or x = 2, x2 3x + 2 = (x 1)(x 2); 2. x = 1 2 5 or x = 1+2 5 , x2 x 1= x 1
2
5
x 1+ 5
2
;
⇣ ⌘⇣ ⌘
3. x = 2, x2 4x + 4 = (x 2)2 ; 4. x 2 R, x2 x + 1 is irreducible; 5. x 2 ( 1 1 ),
2 2
4x2 1 = 4 x 1
2
x+ 1
2
; 6.
⇣ ⌘
x 2 ( 1, 1 ] [ [0, +1), 4x2 + x = 4x x + 1 .
4 4

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Exercise 76. Solve the simultaneous equations (or systems of equations)
⇢ ⇢ ⇢
x + 2y = 5 x + 2y = 5 x 2y = 1
1. 2. 3. .
4x 3y = 2 2x 4y = 2 x2 + 2x y = 0
solution: 1. x = 19
11
and y = 18
11
; 2. non solution; 3. x = 1 and y = 1 or x = 1
2
and y = 3.
4

absolute value
Exercise 77. Evaluate the value of |3|, | 2|, |2 3|, |2| 3, |x|, | x|, |x 1|
and |x| 1.
solution: 3, 2, 1, 1, x if x 0 and x if x < 0, x if x 0 and x if x < 0, x 1 if x 1 and 1 x if x < 1, x 1 if x 0 and

x 1 if x < 0.

Exercise 78. Evaluate |2x 4| at x = 1, 0, 1, 2, 3.

solution: 6, 4, 2, 0, 2

Exercise 79. Find all values such that |x 4|  3.

solution: x 2 [1, 7]

factorials
Exercise 80. Explain what is the factorial of a positive natural number and eval-
uate 2!, 3!, 4! and 5!.
solution: The factorial of a positive natural number is the product of all the positive natural numbers less or equal to the number.

It is denoted by the number symbol followed by an exclamation mark; 2! = 2, 3! = 3 · 2 = 6, 4! = 4 · 3 · 2 = 4 · 3! = 24,

5! = 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 = 5 · 4! = 120.

Exercise 81. Explain how to extend the factorial to 0. What is the value of 0! ?
solution: For a positive integer n! = n(n 1)! or, correspondingly, (n 1)! = n!
n
. If we chose n = 1 in this last formula we obtain

0! = 1!
1
= 1. Observe that the factorial cannot be extended to negative integers because ( 1)! must equal 0!
0
= 1
0
and that is
( 1)!
impossible, ( 2)! must equal 1
and that is impossible and so on.

n
Exercise 82. The binomial coefficient is defined by nk =
k
n!
k!(n k)!
with n k.
(i) Evaluate 20 , 21 and 2
2
. (ii) Evaluate 30 , 31 , 32 and 3
3
. What do these
numbers correspond to?
⇣ ⌘ ⇣ ⌘ ⇣ ⌘ ⇣ ⌘ ⇣ ⌘ ⇣ ⌘ ⇣ ⌘
2 2 2 3 3 3 3
solution: (i) 0
= 1, 1
= 2, 2
= 1 (ii) 0
= 1, 1
= 3, 2
= 3, 3
= 1. They correspond to the coefficients of the

expansions of (a + b)2 and (a + b)3 respectively.

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summation
Exercise 83. Explain what is a summation and describe the capital-sigma notation
for representing the summation of many similar terms.
solution: A summation is the addition of a sequence of numbers. The ⌃ notation, or capital-sigma notation, is used to compactly

represent summations of many similar terms like 4 + 9 + 16 + 25 + 36, that is the sum of the squares of a sequence of successive

natural numbers, or 15
+ 1
6
+ 1
7
+ 1
8
1 , that is the sum the reciprocals of a sequence of successive natural numbers. In the
+ ... + 13
X6 X13
2 1
capital-sigma notation the summation is written as n in the first case and in the second one, where n (also denoted
n=2 n=5 n
by any other letters like i, k etc.) is the index of summation, n2 or n
1 is the generic term of the sum, 2 in the first case and 5 in

the second one is the lower bound of summation and 6 in the first case and 13 in the second one is the upper bound of summation.

In the first example it is read as “sum of n2 for n equal 2 to 5”, in the second as “sum of n
1 for n equal 5 to 13”.

10
X 4
X 3
X
i j
Exercise 84. Evaluate n, 2 and ( 1)j .
n=1 i=0 j=1
j+1
10
X 4
X 3
X
i j j 1 2 3 7
solution: n = 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 10 = 55, 2 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 = 31 and ( 1) = + = .
n=1 i=0 j=1 j+1 2 3 4 12

n
X
Exercise 85. Evaluate in for n = 2, 3, 4.
i=1
2
X 3
X 4
X
2 3 4
solution: i = 1 + 4 = 5, i = 1 + 8 + 27 = 36, i = 1 + 16 + 81 + 256 = 354.
i=1 i=1 i=1

n
X
Exercise 86. Evaluate i for n = 2, 3, 4, generic.
i=1
2
X 3
X 4
X n
X n(n + 1)
solution: i = 1 + 2 = 3, i = 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, i = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10, i = 1 + 2 + ... + n = .
i=1 i=1 i=1 i=1 2

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