Course Syllabus

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ECON 308: Mathematics for Economists — Fall 2026

Professor: Mahmoud El-Gamal

Class: MWF, 12:00—12:50 p.m., TBA

Lab: W, 5:00–5:50 p.m., TBA

Office hours: By appointment

TA: TBA

Course Description: 

Mathematics is a formal language that allows us to think and communicate precisely, making it easier to solve problems. This is why modern economics uses the language of mathematics.

This course covers essential topics in mathematics used in intermediate economics and econometrics courses. This essential material can be learned in three or more mathematics courses, but those courses also cover numerous other topics that are of little use for economics.

Specifically, this course offers students concise coverage of some elements in three areas of mathematics that we use extensively in economics. The course content is split into three modules, covering elements of:

    • Linear algebra (weeks 1—5; textbook chapters 6—11)
    • Calculus of several variables (weeks 6—10; textbook chapters 12—15)
    • Optimization (weeks 11—15; textbook chapters 16—21)

Textbook: 

  • Simon, Carl P., and Blume, Lawrence E. Mathematics for Economists. W.W. Norton, NY, 1994.

Classwork and grading:

  • Every class will include two short lecture sessions, each followed by student work on an exercise problem sheet
    • Students may discuss exercise problems with their neighbors, but must write their own answers
    • All exercise problems will be done on paper during class, scanned to PDF, and uploaded to Canvas for grading and comments
    • Exercise problems will be graded lightly: 8/10 for any meaningful work, 9/10 for impartial but correct work, and 10/10 for perfect or nearly perfect work
    • Exercise assignments will remain open on Canvas for a week after each class, in case students wish to resubmit answers to improve their grades
  • Lab sessions will be ideal times to get feedback and rework assignment problems, and to prepare for exams
  • There will be three exams, one for each module. Exam problems will be graded for correctness and must be completed during the allotted class time
  • Students will be allowed or required to use MATLAB in solving some exercises and exam problems (the MATLAB mobile app will be easiest to use)

Special Needs:

  • Any students who need special accommodations should inform the professor as soon as possible so that we may make special arrangements to accommodate them

AI Policy:

  • Students are not allowed to use any AI resources to assist with classwork or exams during or after class. Students may use AI resources for tutoring purposes if they wish (e.g., to understand textbook or lecture material, work through additional problems, or get feedback on their exercise and exam solutions)

Syllabus: 

  • Week 01 -- Aug. 24, 26, 28: System of Linear Equations ( Chs. 6, 7)
  • Week 02 -- Aug. 31, Sep. 2, 4: Matrix Algebra, Determinants,  Farkas's Lemma (Chs. 8, 9, parts of 26++)
  • Week 03 -- Sep. 09, 11: Euclidean Spaces (Ch. 10)
  • Week 04 -- Sep. 14, 16, 18: Linear Independence, Projection, Bases, Decompositions (Chs. 11, parts of 23, 27, 28++)
  • Week 05 -- Sep. 21, 23: Linear Programming and Farkas's Lemma 
    • September 25: Exam 1
  • Week 06 -- Sep. 28, 30, Oct. 2: Sequences, Open and Closed Sets (Ch. 12)
  • Week 07 -- Oct. 05, 07, 09: Functions of Several Variables (Chs. 13, 29)
  • Week 08 -- Oct. 14, 16: Calculus of Several Variables I (Ch. 14)
  • Week 09 -- Oct. 19, 21, 23: Calculus of Several Variables II (Ch. 30)
  • Week 10 -- Oct. 26, 28: Implicit Functions and their Derivatives (Ch. 15)
    • October 30: Exam 2
  • Week 11 -- Nov. 02, 04, 06: Quadratic Forms, Unconstrained Optim., Quadratic Programming (Chs. 16, 17)
  • Week 12 -- Nov. 09, 11, 13: Constrained Optim. I: FOC (Ch. 18)
  • Week 13 -- Nov. 16, 18, 20: Constrained Optim. II: Envp. Thm., SOC (Ch. 19)
  • Week 14 -- Nov. 23: Homogeneous and Homothetic Functions (Ch. 20)
  • Week 15 -- Nov. 30, Dec. 02: Concave and Quasiconcave Functions (Ch. 21)
    • December 4: Exam 3

Course grading: 

  • Exercise problem sheets: 50% (the lowest three exercise-sheet grades will be dropped)
  • Exams: 50% 

 

Course Summary:

Course Summary
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