Essential Mathematics and Statistics for Economics

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 3
• Convenor and tutor: Dan McVeagh
• Assessment: coursework (100%)

This module provides the mathematical and statistical techniques that will form the technical foundation for your studies on the programme. The aim is to show how these techniques work and how they can be used to understand the structure and operation of simple economic and financial models.

Teaching on this module will make no assumptions about your prior training, and will be designed to encourage you to learn the language of mathematical and statistical methods in a non-intimidating environment.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• work confidently with arithmetic operations involving whole numbers (positive and negative), fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios
• manipulate and simplify basic algebraic expressions
• represent linear relationships through equations and graphs and relate these to economic principles
• manipulate, rearrange and solve linear equations
• manipulate, rearrange and solve quadratic equations using the formula
• understand the laws of indices
• use powers and exponential functions to solve practical problems, e.g. those involving compound interest
• gather, collate and represent data graphically
• interpret graphs and charts
• create and interpret scatter graphs
• construct lines of best fit
• locate correlation where it exists
• calculate the mean, median, mode and range of data and interpret their meaning in a practical/economic context
• use a calculator properly and with confidence.