1. Course Details

Summary of Course

Mathematics is an important part of theoretical and applied analysis in economics and business. This     course equips students with a working knowledge of the mathematical techniques most commonly used in these felds, providing the basis for their further studies. Topics include the mathematics of fnance,     matrix algebra, calculus and (unconstrained and constrained) optimisation. Special emphasis is put on   the illustration of the covered concepts and techniques with applications to typical problems in business and economics.

Teaching Times and Locations

Please note that teaching times and locations are subject to change. Students are strongly advised to refer to the Class Timetable website for the most up-to-date teaching times and locations.

Viewcoursetimetable

Course Policies & Support

The Business School expects that you are familiar with the contents of this course outline and the UNSW and Business School learning expectations, rules, policies and support services as listed below:

Program Learning Outcomes

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Student Responsibilities and Conduct

Special Consideration

Protocol for Viewing Final Exam Scripts

Student Learning Support Services

Further information is provided in the Assessmentand PoliciesandSupportsections.

Students may not circulate or post online any course materials such as handouts, exams, syllabi or similar resources from their courses without the written permission of their instructor.

Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses

This course is offered as part of the frst-year core in the Bachelor of Economics degree program. For     students in the Bachelor of Commerce program, it is not part of the frst-year core, but it is a prerequisite for most second-year economics courses, so it is strongly recommended for those contemplating an     economics major within the Bachelor of Commerce.

The course aims to give students insight into how mathematical concepts, theories and techniques are applied to the felds of business, economics and the social sciences in order to generate solutions to    problems encountered in these felds. The course builds on mathematical knowledge which you should have gained in high school.

After completing ECON1202, your use of mathematics and statistics in your studies will vary depending on the major(s) you choose. If you choose a major such as Economics, Business Economics, Financial  Economics or Econometrics, you will study further courses in econometrics. These majors are designed to equip students with statistical and other quantitative skills that are widely used and increasingly        demanded by employers in commercial felds and the public sector. If you choose other majors where   quantitative skills are needed, such as in accounting, fnance or marketing, a good understanding of       concepts taught in this course will be a major asset.

The aims of this course are for you to:

Develop your ability to perform calculations;

Develop your ability to solve real-life business problems using formal mathematical tools and

algorithms;

Extend your skills in analysis, oral communication and written communication.

Presumed Knowledge

The Business School has an assumed knowledge requirement that students entering the BCom and BEc are expected to be familiar with HSC Mathematics. Therefore, in this course we will base lectures on a    prior knowledge of HSC Mathematics and this assumed knowledge will not be covered or revised as part of the lectures or tutorials.

If you have not studied HSC mathematics in New South Wales, knowledge of the following topics is        essential: basic functions and graphs, including logarithms and exponentials, and solutions of linear and quadratic equations. If you have not studied any or all of these topics previously at high school, remedial work will likely be necessary.

A short quiz has been designed to give you an evaluation of your mathematics skills. The quiz is available on the course website and you are encouraged to attempt the quiz. More importantly, the quiz provides an indication of whether you do in fact have a good grasp of the assumed knowledge in mathematics.           Students with the appropriate background will fnd the quiz straightforward.

2. Staff Contact Details

Communications with staff

The primary point of contact for the course is Email. Emailing this address ensures that your enquiry will be directed to the most appropriate person and responded to promptly. Please only contact course staff directly if specifcally instructed to do so.

Consultations are an opportunity for you to ask questions. You may need to ask about the material   introduced in lectures, the problems you have attempted or questions that were not fully answered in tutorials.

You should feel free to contact course staff about any matter at EmailFor effciency, all enquiries about the subject material should be made at tutorials, lecture recaps, or consultation times. Discussion of   course subject material will not be entered into via lengthy emails.

Email correspondence on administrative matters will be responded to within 2 working days, but not over weekends. Please note that the lecturer has no advance notice of the date and time of the exam (the       subject of many emails).

We will reply to emails within 2 working days with the following provisions:

The question should require at most a two-sentence response. Inquiries requiring more in-depth responses should be made at tutorials, lecture recaps, or consultation hours.

The email should not request information that can be found on the website or the course outline. The email is not about grading. For such matters, consultation hours are appropriate.

Always identify yourself and the course code in the subject of your email.

Please do not send attachments of any kind unless requested.

Student Enrolment Requests

Students can vary their own enrolment (including switching lecture streams or tutorials) via       myUNSW until the end of Week 1. In general, most other student enrolment requests should be  directed to TheNucleus:StudentHub(formerly Student Central). These include enrolment in full   courses or tutorials, course timetable clashes, waiving prerequisites for any course, transfer-of- credit (international exchange, transfer to UNSW, cross-institutional study, etc.), or any other       request which requires a decision about equivalence of courses and late enrolment for any        course. Where appropriate, the request will be passed to the School Offce for approval before   processing. Note that enrolment changes are rarely considered after Week 2 classes have taken place.

QUANTPASS: PeerAssistedStudySessions(PASS)for quantitative subjects

QUANTPASS is a series of informal study groups available to students in ECON1202. The groups are each led by senior students and are an opportunity to practice problems, develop study methods, ask questions, and consolidate your knowledge in a friendly, informal environment. The QUANTPASS timetable will be available from the course website around Week 2.

3. Learning and Teaching Activities

Use of your Webcam and Digital Devices: If you enrol in an online class, or the online stream of a hybrid class, teaching and associated activities will be conducted using Teams, Zoom, or similar a technology. Using a webcam is optional, but highly encouraged, as this will facilitate interaction with your peers and instructors. If you are worried about your personal space being observed      during a class, we encourage you to blur your background or make use of a virtual background.   Please contact the Lecturer-in-Charge if you have any questions or concerns.

Some courses may involve undertaking online exams for which your own computer or digital      devices will be required. Monitoring of online examinations will be conducted directly by             University staff and is bound by the University's privacy and security requirements. Any data       collected will be handled accordance with UNSWpoliciesandstandardsfordatagovernance. For     more information on how the University manages personal information please refer to the UNSW StudentPrivacyStatementand the UNSWPrivacyPolicy.

Approach to Learning and Teaching in the Course

The teaching and learning strategies for this course are based on " GuidelinesonLearningthatInform TeachingatUNSW". Specifcally, the lectures, tutorials, and assessments have been designed to         appropriately challenge students and support the achievement of the desired learning outcomes. A     climate of inquiry and dialogue is encouraged between students and teachers and among students (in and out of class). Course staff aims to provide meaningful and timely feedback to students to improve learning outcomes.

This is not a course where you can become profcient just by observing. You will need to get involved in   class ‐ evaluating information and asking and answering questions. You also must learn to organise your independent study and practise enough problems to gain a thorough understanding of concepts and how to apply them.

You are expected to:

Put a consistent effort into learning activities throughout the term by preparing for the regular assessment tasks

Take a responsible role in preparing for tutorials and participating in them

Develop communication skills through engaging in classroom discussions

Concentrate on understanding how and why to use formulas and less on memorising them Make continuous improvements by using the feedback from assessments

Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies

The examinable content of the course is defned by the references given in the lecture schedule, the content of lectures, and the content of the tutorial program.

In this course there are two types of formal classes: lectures and tutorials. There are also QUANTPASS classes which you can attend on a voluntary basis. In addition, you will be expected to spend a            considerable amount of extra time working on your own to prepare for tutorials.

Lectures

The purpose of lectures is to provide a logical structure for the topics that make up the course and to emphasise the important concepts and methods of each topic. Lectures will include explanation of relevant topics and theory together with worked examples to demonstrate the theory in practice. Where possible, lectures will show the relevance and application of the quantitative techniques covered in this course to business, economic and fnancial applications.

In T1, lecture content will be delivered online in a prerecorded format.

Because lectures are prerecorded, students can view them at times outside the timetabled lecture slots. The Friday timetabled lecture slot will be used for a Q&A session with the lecturer (see the course          schedule). The Tuesday timetabled lecture slot will be used for online in-session tests (see below) in     some weeks, and may be used for online course activities at the lecturer's discretion in other weeks.

In each week's online Q&A session, the lecturer will recap some concepts from the lectures. Students will have the opportunity to discuss the material in that week's lectures and ask questions. Students are        encouraged to post, to the course Moodle forum, questions that they'd like to have discussed during the  Q&A sessions.

Tutorials

Both online and in-person tutorials will be available for this course. Students will be able to sign up for either an in-person tutorial stream or an online tutorial stream.

Tutorials are an integral part of the subject. Tutorial discussion problems will build on the material          discussed in lectures. Tutorials will increase your understanding of the material covered in lectures if you have tried to work through some numerical problems yourself beforehand.

Focus . Besides learning practical problem‐ solving skills, there is an emphasis on the development of    communication skills and the ability to construct arguments. Discussions, both in small groups and      involving the whole class, will be an opportunity for you to examine your understanding of concepts and applications before working on numerical examples.

Preparation . Tutorial questions must be prepared for your tutorial each week. Expect that your tutor or  another student will check that you have attempted these. You are expected to attend the tutorials and  discuss any diffculties you encountered solving the tutorial questions with your tutor. Solutions to these tutorial questions will be available on the course website each week.

Self-study questions will also be set for each week. Attempting these will assist you in answering the    tutorial questions and will form a necessary part of the practice you will need to do to successfully        complete this course. Solutions to some of these questions will be posted on the course website before summative assessment occurs. Further help in understanding the tutorial solutions and in solving the   self-study problems can be obtained through consultations with your course staff.

Discussion . The frst part of your tutorial will involve discussion questions related to the numerical       questions you have prepared. These will help you improve your understanding of concepts and             mathematical methods and assist you to see the relevance of these in business and economics. During this part of the tutorial, you may also suggest topics you would like to be discussed, for example areas  where you are confused or need more explanation.

Numerical solutions . During the second part of the tutorial, the students and the tutor, working together, will examine the solutions to the prepared questions. If time permits, extra questions may be attempted. In the case where there is not time to work through all the prepared questions, answers to these            questions (but not complete solutions) will be made available on the website.

Online In-Session tests. There will be two online in-session tests, which will be held during the Tuesday  lecture slot (13:00-14:30) in Weeks 4 and 9. Each test will be delivered as a Moodle quiz. These tests will assess your understanding of the course material; course staff will inform you in advance about the       topics covered in the test.

Out-of-Class Study

Lectures can only provide a structure to assist your study, and tutorial time is limited. Most learning will be achieved outside of class time. Students differ in their learning styles but a learning strategy might  include:

Read sections of the textbook before/after the lecture

Attempt the self-study problems and compare your methods with the online practice problems to prepare for quizzes; try extra problems from the textbook if required

Prepare tutorial questions

Take the online quiz, look at your results and if necessary carry out further preparation before re- attempting it

Seek assistance from staff, QUANTPASS leaders or fellow students to have queries answered

4. Assessment

Formal Requirements

In order to pass this course, you must:

achieve a composite mark of at least 50 out of 100;

meet any additional requirements described in the Assessment Summary section.

You are expected to attempt all assessment requirements in the course.

Assessment Structure

Assessment Summary

Online Quizzes (10%)

Two online quizzes have been designed to assist you to learn, so you can practice, check your                  understanding of topics and improve on your frst attempt if necessary. Online Quiz 1 counts for 4% of the overall mark for the course, and Online Quiz 2 for 6%.

Quizzes will test material up to and including lectures ending the previous week. Before completing each quiz you will have the opportunity to try online self‐ check practice questions that are similar in content to the topics to be examined. For each quiz there will be two attempts allowed, but only your highest mark  will be recorded.

The online quizzes will usually consist of multiple questions. You will need to perform calculations similar to those in the practice set but enter numerical answers rather than checking a box. In order to avoid        rounding errors you should try to store as much information as possible in your calculator’s memory when performing intermediate calculations. You will be allocated a time limit of about one hour to complete      each of your two attempts at each quiz. For the second attempt, you may not get exactly the same set of  questions or data.

You can access the quizzes through the course Moodle site by clicking on the 'quizzes' link. It is a good    idea to save each answer as you progress through the questions in case your internet connection fails. Do not leave it until Thursday afternoon to begin your frst quiz attempt, as overuse of the website may cause access problems.

You may make your attempts at UNSW computing labs. There are no supplementary quizzes. You are      given two attempts to cover for any unseen t