How to Use This Math Review?

1. The Review is composed of 9 Math Modules. Each Math Module has a brief Discussion of the Topic, a list of Economic Applications, and (most important of all) a set of Questions, so that you can test your understanding of the topics and (through practice) build up your problem-solving speed. From the questions, you can click to the Answers and Solution Notes, to check your work.
2. Each module should take from 30 minutes to 2 hours to complete. We don't recommend that you do every question in every module in the first week of term. Try one or two questions in each module. Since there is some gradation of difficulty, you could try a few of the later questions in each module first. If they pose no problems and you can complete them rapidly, then move on to the next module and repeat the process. If you're still a bit rusty, or want to increase your problem-solving speed, then try a few more until you're satisfied.
3. Even if you don't do all of the questions in each module in the first week, it is a good idea to have tried a few questions in most of the modules within the first few weeks of term. The modules are in a numbered sequence which corresponds roughly to the progression from the most basic and widely used topics to the slightly more difficult and/or specialized topics. It is therefore a good idea to start with the first module and work your way in sequence through to the end, unless the flow of the course means that you want or need to jump ahead at some point to a later module.
4. This Review, for the most part, is not intended to teach you either economics or mathematics. Its primary purpose is to provide you with an opportunity to review and polish some basic mathematical tools and skills that you should already have acquired, and that you will require for the course. The text, especially in its footnotes and Appendixes, is where you will learn how the mathematical tools you find here (and others) are applied in answering economic questions. You will, however, find some economic techniques and short cuts here that are not in your text, and that should come in handy and save you time.
5. DON'T PEEK! There are Answers and Solution Notes for the Questions, and you can click onto the answers after you have tried the questions, or you can click on to them right away, or as soon as you sense some difficulty. Try to resist the temptation to peek at the answers until you have solved each question, or at least given it a good try! On your tests and exams, you won't be able to click to the answers, and it's good to practise for that situation. Premature peeking also means that you don't get as clear an idea as you could have of exactly which areas need more work. It's possible to kid oneself that the answers were "obvious,"...some of them are, but some of them aren't.
6. Don't overdo it! A few 1- or 2-hour sessions are usually more productive than an allnight marathon, especially if you're a bit rusty. You will retain the concepts better, and they won't all blur together.
7. Don't delay! You should find that working through this material early in the course actually saves you time, because your speed in doing end-of-chapter exercises and Study Guide problems will be higher, and therefore the time you require to do them will be reduced.