Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory and 22,5 hours of exercises.

First term
Thursday from 08:30 to 10:30 at 43 Botanique 1

Course and reference work in French. The reference work also exists in English.

The main objective of this course is to present mathematical foundations that will be essential for the understanding of important scientific approaches in economics and management sciences. The lectures emphasize the mathematical modelling and offers way to solve/approach applications or problems in economics and management. Beyond this objective, the students will be led to grasp the logical reasoning, the argumentation and / or the rigorous demonstration of the results, as well as being led to work on the verbal and written expression of their knowledge. They will learn to move from the intuitive understanding of concepts to their formal expressions, which are indispensable in the presence of a certain degree of abstraction or generalization.

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The topics covered are:
1. Essentials of set theory
2. Elements of logic
3. Simple algebraic tools
4. Analysis of real functions of one variable
5. Single-variable optimisation

Beyond the rigorous presentation of mathematical concepts, the course will also address and discuss numerous examples of economic applications of the latter (directly related to the second objective of the course): optimisation (revenue maximization), elasticities, etc.

A) The lectures

The lectures consist of an exposition of concepts and explanatory mechanisms. They follow the general structure of the plan detailed above and therefore also quite closely that of the reference manual mentioned below. The different parts of the material may, however, succeed one another in a slightly different order than in the reference manual.

B) TA (Teaching Assistant) sessions

Students are divided into groups. The sessions require preparation of the students, who are responsible for preparing a selection of "core" exercises distributed on the course website at least one week before each work session. The TA session itself combines individual work (during which the assistant answers any questions) and interaction with the assistant on a series of more complex exercises.

C) Continuous Assessment Sessions

Throughout the course, students also regularly participate to short written tests aimed at evaluating an initial assimilation of the taught concepts (6 in all spread over the four-month period). The questions are handed to the students during the exercise sessions.

The final grade will be an average of two grades, the weighting of which will be announced to the students at the beginning of the semester: a grade from the continuous assessment (which will however only be taken into account in the first session and if it allows the student's final mark to be increased) and a final examination grade. The final exam is written. It aims to verify the acquisition of the theoretical knowledge and the understanding of the concepts presented in the course, as well as the acquisition of techniques to solve exercises and applications. In particular, the student will be asked to apply these techniques to real mathematical and economic problems.

Reference book: Mathématiques pour l'Economie, Knut Sydsaeter and Peter Hammond, Pearson, 4th edition.