Speaker 0: Hello, everyone.
Speaker 0: This is the first in a series of short videos
Speaker 0: that are focussing on the importance of mathematics within economics.
Speaker 0: Now the various videos will focus on different areas of
Speaker 0: mathematics and why they're important within economics.
Speaker 0: But this first video is really just looking at mathematics
Speaker 0: in general and why it's really important that you've got
Speaker 0: a good understanding of mathematics and how that's going to
Speaker 0: help you in your understanding of economics.
Speaker 0: So firstly, why do you need this good understanding of
Speaker 0: mathematics now in economics and in the modules that you'll
Speaker 0: be studying at Warwick?
Speaker 0: You will see that we consider problems from lots of
Speaker 0: different perspectives.
Speaker 0: So we'll think about them intuitively.
Speaker 0: We will think about them from a graphical point of
Speaker 0: view.
Speaker 0: So do lots of graphs, but we will also consider
Speaker 0: them from a mathematical point of view.
Speaker 0: We will be looking at how do we mathematically solve
Speaker 0: particular problems.
Speaker 0: And with that, if we're going to be looking at
Speaker 0: a number of different areas in economics, where you will
Speaker 0: see that mathematics is absolutely vital.
Speaker 0: So it therefore means that if you've got this really
Speaker 0: good understanding of mathematics, you are able to view economic
Speaker 0: problems from an extra perspective.
Speaker 0: You can actually go through and rather than just thinking
Speaker 0: about it or seeing how particular values are determined.
Speaker 0: So perhaps how prices are determined in markets, how we
Speaker 0: find a firm's profits, rather than just thinking about it
Speaker 0: intuitively or seeing it graphically, we can actually solve to
Speaker 0: find the actual value.
Speaker 0: And that is therefore very helpful when we're trying to
Speaker 0: solve economic problems and perhaps making policy recommendations.
Speaker 0: So you will see that understanding mathematics is absolutely crucial
Speaker 0: to your study of economics.
Speaker 0: So what are you actually going to use mathematics in
Speaker 0: your modules?
Speaker 0: Well, as you can see from the slide all the
Speaker 0: time, it is something that you need to be aware
Speaker 0: that it will feature in almost every aspect of economics.
Speaker 0: And it's not to say that it's the only way
Speaker 0: of considering problems.
Speaker 0: There are lots of other ways we can do it.
Speaker 0: It's just a really useful method.
Speaker 0: And for some people in particular, it will be the
Speaker 0: main method that makes sense.
Speaker 0: So I teach, what, nine microeconomics?
Speaker 0: One, what you will see is that in this module,
Speaker 0: particularly in term one, we use mathematics in almost every
Speaker 0: lecture.
Speaker 0: We use different types of mathematics and some of the
Speaker 0: later videos in this sequence of short videos.
Speaker 0: They will talk in a bit more detail about some
Speaker 0: particular topics within mathematics.
Speaker 0: But what you will see is even basic mathematical concepts
Speaker 0: are ones that will come in handy in your Mocho
Speaker 0: AC1 09, but also in many other modules as well.
Speaker 0: Almost every module will use some form of mathematics, even
Speaker 0: if it is basic simultaneous equations.
Speaker 0: So, for example, thinking about a demand function or supply
Speaker 0: function, we want to solve a defined quantity and price.
Speaker 0: You therefore need to understand that basic algebra in order
Speaker 0: to be able to solve for those types of things.
Speaker 0: The same might apply to firms and they're calculating that
Speaker 0: profits.
Speaker 0: So having this basic understanding of key things in economics
Speaker 0: when it comes to mathematics is going to really, really
Speaker 0: help you understand relationships between different variables and to help
Speaker 0: us make policy recommendations, because we've actually got the numbers,
Speaker 0: the data to back it up.
Speaker 0: So really make sure you've got a good grasp of
Speaker 0: mathematics and you will therefore see that that really does
Speaker 0: help in your study of economics.
Speaker 0: I hope you find the videos in this series very
Speaker 0: useful in picking out some of the really key areas
Speaker 0: in mathematics that are going to prove very helpful to
Speaker 0: your studies of economics.