Year long part-time maths courses

andrew

Apologies if this isn't the right forum. I thought maybe the Edu sub-forums might be a bit too general.

I was wondering if anyone here knows of any year long part-time maths courses, which would cover some of the following topics:

Calculus
Linear Algebra
Multivariable Calculus
Real Analysis
Probability Theory
Mathematical Statistics
Game Theory
Differential Equations

The plan is to use the course to maintain/improve my maths skills in preparation for an Economics masters. Having done a undergrad in Economics, I already have some calculus, probability, game theory, and multi-variable calculus under my belt*, but not nearly to the level that I'd like, and I've had no exposure to the other topics.

If no such courses exist, then any advice as to how to learn these topics would be appreciated. I could possibly just get a textbook and teach myself, but motivation would be an issue there, I'd rather have assignments to complete etc.

Thanks.

Delphi91

Came across this site the other day: http://www.learnerstv.com/course.php?cat=Maths

Haven't gone through it in much detail so can't comment on the quality, but the breadth of topics covered is impressive.

carlab_ie

I'm looking for the same, I have a degree on Languages but would love to retake Math. There is a lot of stuff on Khan Academy but I'd like some guidance and certification.

rainbow kirby

Does DIT still run the part-time maths degree in the evening? Sounds like some of those courses could be covered within it.

andrew

carlab_ie wrote: »

I'm looking for the same, I have a degree on Languages but would love to retake Math. There is a lot of stuff on Khan Academy but I'd like some guidance and certification.

I had a look at Open university courses; there seem to be some very good (well, good as in relevant) ones, but it's pretty pricey - €3,000 per module!

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Does DIT still run the part-time maths degree in the evening? Sounds like some of those courses could be covered within it.

From what i could find on the DIT website it does, but I don't think it's possible to just do one or two of the modules within it.

Nappy

I found Khan Academy brilliant with any problems I had throughout my Maths degree. I also used youtube to find some good maths tutors in various subjects which helped. I wouldn't bother with text book, they can be over specific and will take far too long to get through. You should also check with coursera, they do free online classes. Don't even think about shelling out 3 grand! You'll find everything you need online!

andrew

Nappy wrote: »

I found Khan Academy brilliant with any problems I had throughout my Maths degree. I also used youtube to find some good maths tutors in various subjects which helped. I wouldn't bother with text book, they can be over specific and will take far too long to get through. You should also check with coursera, they do free online classes. Don't even think about shelling out 3 grand! You'll find everything you need online!

Oh I know stuff is available for free, it's just that going down the self taught route, motivation becomes an issue. I'd find it much easier to work toward assignments, having paid money, with clear start and end dates and a very clear structure.

Nappy

Fair enough,

Check and see do these guys have anything relevant, they have a course structure with start and end date with teacher student interaction. It's free too.

https://www.coursera.org/courses?orderby=upcoming&cats=math

Justin1982

andrew wrote: »

Apologies if this isn't the right forum. I thought maybe the Edu sub-forums might be a bit too general.

I was wondering if anyone here knows of any year long part-time maths courses, which would cover some of the following topics:

Calculus
Linear Algebra
Multivariable Calculus
Real Analysis
Probability Theory
Mathematical Statistics
Game Theory
Differential Equations

The plan is to use the course to maintain/improve my maths skills in preparation for an Economics masters. Having done a undergrad in Economics, I already have some calculus, probability, game theory, and multi-variable calculus under my belt*, but not nearly to the level that I'd like, and I've had no exposure to the other topics.

If no such courses exist, then any advice as to how to learn these topics would be appreciated. I could possibly just get a textbook and teach myself, but motivation would be an issue there, I'd rather have assignments to complete etc.

Thanks.

To be honest, I doubt that much economic mathematics is much more complicated than A1 leaving cert standard. Honestly.
And if there was the odd bit that was new maths to you in Economics masters then I'd say it would be easy to just focus on that new maths area. Most likely any new maths would be some sort of probability or statistics, which if you know the leaving cert basics, is generally easy to understand the more complicated stuff.

Understand Addition, Subtraction, Division, Multiplication, integration, differentiation, Exponential function, Natural Logarithm, Statistics, Probablility to leaving cert standard then your sorted.

If anyone tries to use more complicated maths than that to describe economics then they are talking sh1t probably.

Programing might be important if you get into that. Monte Carlo simulation, Regression testing, Random Walk methods might be encountered but are easy to get to grips with once you encounter them.

andrew

Justin1982 wrote: »

To be honest, I doubt that much economic mathematics is much more complicated than A1 leaving cert standard. Honestly.

I wish you were right, but alas...here's an example. It's the first econ paper i've come accross since I read your post (so it's night like I've singled it out for being particularly mathsy).

Justin1982

andrew wrote: »

I wish you were right, but alas...here's an example. It's the first econ paper i've come accross since I read your post (so it's night like I've singled it out for being particularly mathsy).

As far as I can see 99% of the maths in that paper would be readable for a leaving cert student.

There was three symbols mentioned that I didnt recognize. He defined a "v" and an inverted "v" but the symbols in the definition formula are not coming up properly in my acrobat for some reason. He also seems to be using an elongated "z" throughout the paper which I suspect is the integration symbol backwords or its another problem with my acrobat version not viewing it properly. Even if they are new symbols then I'm sure they are easy to figure out.

And another thing. That economics paper looks like complete rubbish. Maths is very useful when it comes to economics and finance. Even some complicated leaving cert maths would be useful. But whenever I see economists or business people getting into flamboyant mathematical jargon my gut reaction is "you need to dig up".

To run a "real" economy, it would be useful to have someone who is good at programing, be able to build advanced models using leaving cert standard maths, someone who has been trained to a high level in maths and even to use some maths. But I really think that if your using mathematical models more advanced than a high leaving cert level then you've lost the plot and probably most of the "real" economists will not understand the model, how to use it or what its limits are.

I'd say that at least 99% of real economics requires simple maths. Even the most complicated parts of a financial system such as some of the financial derivatives like Interest Rate Swaps, Credit Default Swaps, CDO'S and their second derivatives do not require maths thats more compicated than leaving cert maths.

From my experience, I have seen credit analysts piss about with complicated mathematical models and programing in the hope of generating some sort of superdy duper model that maximizes profit and minimizes risk......which generally turns out to be too complicated to fully understand and doesnt really reflect the real world.......while at the same time these same smart guys didnt use basics like "Dont lend to muppets that wont pay you back", "dont rely on cheap credit to drive your business model" and "100% mortgages are probably not a very good idea for people with a not so good credit rating"

My advise would be learn some programing, be proficient with microsoft excel/access/vba, know leaving cert maths inside out and really really really know the basics of common sense economics.

rjt

Justin1982 wrote: »

As far as I can see 99% of the maths in that paper would be readable for a leaving cert student.

There was three symbols mentioned that I didnt recognize. He defined a "v" and an inverted "v" but the symbols in the definition formula are not coming up properly in my acrobat for some reason. He also seems to be using an elongated "z" throughout the paper which I suspect is the integration symbol backwords or its another problem with my acrobat version not viewing it properly. Even if they are new symbols then I'm sure they are easy to figure out.

And another thing. That economics paper looks like complete rubbish. Maths is very useful when it comes to economics and finance. Even some complicated leaving cert maths would be useful. But whenever I see economists or business people getting into flamboyant mathematical jargon my gut reaction is "you need to dig up".

There's no way this is accessible to a leaving cert student. I just skimmed it, and there's a good bit of measure theory terminology in there for example!

I don't think it's fair criticism to say that "flambouyant" mathematical jargon in an economics paper means it's rubbish (even easily stated, easily understood problems often require hefty math to make headway with!). I mean, there's a reason that financial firms hire math PhDs. But I'm not an economist so I'll leave it to someone else to fight that one. (Plus, the author is a Harvard professor, which is a pretty good endorsement).

andrew

Justin1982 wrote: »

As far as I can see 99% of the maths in that paper would be readable for a leaving cert student.

There was three symbols mentioned that I didnt recognize. He defined a "v" and an inverted "v" but the symbols in the definition formula are not coming up properly in my acrobat for some reason. He also seems to be using an elongated "z" throughout the paper which I suspect is the integration symbol backwords or its another problem with my acrobat version not viewing it properly. Even if they are new symbols then I'm sure they are easy to figure out.

And another thing. That economics paper looks like complete rubbish. Maths is very useful when it comes to economics and finance. Even some complicated leaving cert maths would be useful. But whenever I see economists or business people getting into flamboyant mathematical jargon my gut reaction is "you need to dig up".

To run a "real" economy, it would be useful to have someone who is good at programing, be able to build advanced models using leaving cert standard maths, someone who has been trained to a high level in maths and even to use some maths. But I really think that if your using mathematical models more advanced than a high leaving cert level then you've lost the plot and probably most of the "real" economists will not understand the model, how to use it or what its limits are.

I'd say that at least 99% of real economics requires simple maths. Even the most complicated parts of a financial system such as some of the financial derivatives like Interest Rate Swaps, Credit Default Swaps, CDO'S and their second derivatives do not require maths thats more compicated than leaving cert maths.

From my experience, I have seen credit analysts piss about with complicated mathematical models and programing in the hope of generating some sort of superdy duper model that maximizes profit and minimizes risk......which generally turns out to be too complicated to fully understand and doesnt really reflect the real world.......while at the same time these same smart guys didnt use basics like "Dont lend to muppets that wont pay you back", "dont rely on cheap credit to drive your business model" and "100% mortgages are probably not a very good idea for people with a not so good credit rating"

My advise would be learn some programing, be proficient with microsoft excel/access/vba, know leaving cert maths inside out and really really really know the basics of common sense economics.

Even if you were right in saying that that Economics paper is complete rubbish and that you only need Leaving cert maths for economics (and I take it that given you hold this opinion, you don't have an economics background), it doesn't change the fact that in order to do an Economics masters I need to up my maths skills. Its not as though I could (or would want to) dismiss the mathematical elements of the course.

In all likelihood I'll do an Open university course. If I remember, I'll bump this thread when I'm finished in case anybody else has a similar query.

Justin1982

rjt wrote: »

There's no way this is accessible to a leaving cert student. I just skimmed it, and there's a good bit of measure theory terminology in there for example!

I don't think it's fair criticism to say that "flambouyant" mathematical jargon in an economics paper means it's rubbish (even easily stated, easily understood problems often require hefty math to make headway with!). I mean, there's a reason that financial firms hire math PhDs. But I'm not an economist so I'll leave it to someone else to fight that one. (Plus, the author is a Harvard professor, which is a pretty good endorsement).

You can make economics as complicated and mathematical as you like. I wont deny anyone that right

I'm just saying that if you really want to understand economics to a very high level then I would suggest that one starts by knowing Leaving Cert maths inside out and learn to become a very advanced programer in C or Excel VBA.

And dont always presume that just because someone is using advanced mathematics and holds a very prestigious post in a prestigious university that they know what they know better than you.

Running an economy effectively requires some rather simple principles. And I'd like to see economists employ those principles properly first. Then they can move into the complicated stuff to their hearts content.

As an example I would highlight Warren Buffett who is the richest investor in the world. The reason he made so much money was because he followed some sound simple investment principles in a disciplined manner that were common knowledge and mainly stayed clear of all these fancy pants complicated financial instruments which promised to make us all rich quick. To run an economy requires a similar approach. Follow simple economic principles in a disciplined manner.

And as I say, the most complicated anything that I've come across in economics/finance is financial derivatives and they are Leaving Cert standard maths.

Go to the Department of Finance website or NAMA or National Treasury Management Agency website. You wont find too much complicated fancy pants maths there either because they generally dont need it to run the real economy.