最新糖心Vlog

Office hours: Thursdays 2pm - 3pm
Office location: Nexus 10, Level 4, Room 4.08
Telephone: 8313 4930

Preferred method of contact: email. Please do not call unless absolutely necessary.

By the end of this course you should be able to:

1	Explain consumers’ and firms’ behaviour using mathematical tools
2	Understand the advantages and limits of economic theory
3	Develop communications skills through the presentation of your work, interactions during tutorial sessions, and appropriate use of the discussion board
4	Apply economic theory to diverse real-world situations
5	Analyse economic problems and prescribe solutions
6	Model economic situations in a logical, rigorous, and precise manner

Textbook:
Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach. Hal R. Varian. 8th Edition. W.W.Norton

Exercise Book:
Workouts in Intermediate Microeconomics. Theodore C. Bergstrom. 8th Edition. W.W.Norton

Microeconomic References

The following textbook cannot be used as a substitute for the Varian book. But it may be used as a complement to it, providing further examples and explanations.

"Microeconomics and Behavior", by Robert H. Frank, McGraw-Hill, 7th Edition

Math References

“Mathematics for Economists”, by Carl P. Simon and Lawrence Blume (Norton), 2nd Edition

“Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics” by Kevin Wainwright and Alpha C. Chiang, McGraw-Hill, 2004 Edition.

“Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics” by Alpha C. Chiang, McGraw- Hill, 1993 International Edition.

"Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis" by K. Sydsaeter and P. Hammond, Prentice Hall, 2006 Edition.

This course uses MyUni intensively and you are required to check the website regularly.

 

Course material such as lecture notes, lecture recordings, quiz answers and supplementary material for developing your mathematical skills are available on MyUni. Also, a discussion board will be available for questions you may want to ask the lecturer, tutors or other classmates.

The lecture recordings should be used as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, attending lectures, as lectures will be interactive. Be aware that sometimes due to technical problems recordings may not be available.

The lectures will provide you with the necessary understanding of the material to be able to solve the exercises you will be given during tutorial, assignments or exams. Some examples will be given to illustrate the concepts presented in this course.

The tutorials will be organised as follows:

• Your tutor will present the solutions for one of the tutorial exercises you were asked to prepare to illustrate what is expected from you in solving these kinds of problems.
• Students will then be asked to come to the board and present their work and answers to some of the tutorial exercises. Your tutor will provide assistance if needed and questions and comments from other students are strongly encouraged.
• At the end of the tutorial, you will be given a short quiz that lasts about 15 minutes.

Diverse learning styles will be supported by the provision of course materials in a variety of formats. The lecture sessions will be recorded providing an audio-visual resource that can be utilized by students, as well as the written resources of the lecture notes and the textbooks.

The practical learning approach will be incorporated through the tutorials as described above, as well as through the provision of additional resources such as past-semester assessment tasks.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The 最新糖心Vlog expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This translates to 12 hours per week for a semester course.

The tentative lecture schedule is presented below. Any major changes to this schedule will be announced in class and on MyUni.

The text chapters given are for the main text by Varian. The chapter numbers given here are only an indication of relevant readings.

Week	Lecture topic	Text reference
1	Budget Constraints, Preferences, Axioms	Chapter 2,3
2	IC, MRS and Utility	Chapter 3,4
3	Specific Cases of Utility	Chapter 4
4	Choice	Chapter 5
5	Demand	Chapter 6
6	Slutsky Equation	Chapter 8
7	Mid-semester Test
8	Technology Profit Maximization	Chapter 18,19
	Mid-Semester Break
9	Cost Minimization Cost Curves Firm Supply	Chapter 20,21,22
10	Monopoly Monopoly Behaviour	Chapter 24,25
11	Oligopoly	Chapter 27
12	Game Theory	Chapter 28

• Mid-Semester Test 37%
• Tutorial Participation 3%
• Tutorial Quizzes 5%
• Assignment 10%
• Final Exam 45%

1- To gain a pass, a mark of at least 45% must be obtained on the final examination as well as a total of at least 50% overall. 
2 - If you are not able to attend tutorials for some medical reasons, you must provide your tutor with a medical certificate. If the medical certificate covers a period longer than a week, you will need to organise some other arrangements with the lecturer in charge.  The same applies if you provide more than two medical certificates during the semester.The only medical reports that are acceptable are from the 最新糖心Vlogn registered medical practitioners. The list of these practitioners are at
3- Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the midterm and final examinations because of poor hand-writing.

Mid-semester test (Week 7) --37%
Time: During lecture time, same location
No calculators are allowed in the midterm test. This test will assess the topics of Weeks 1-6 (inclusive). It will be 1 hour 50 minutes in length. 

It will consist of mathematical problems and short answer questions, and may also include multiple choice questions. Past mid-semester test papers will be available on MyUni, for which no answers will be provided.

The midterm test is redeemable, which means that if the grade you obtained for the final examination is higher than the one you obtained for the midterm, the final examination grade will account for 82% ofyour overall grade.


Final Exam --45%
There will be a 3 hour exam. The final exam is comprehensive, i.e. it cancover ALL the topics of this course. It will consist of mathematical problems and short answer questions, and may also include multiple choice questions.

Assignment --10%
Due Date: 4.00 pm on Friday 19 September (week 8)
This assignment will mainly assess the topics of weeks 1-6 (inclusive).
It will consist of mathematical problems, and short discussion questions.

Tutorial Quizzes --5%
Weekly– except week 1
The tutorial quizzes component of the assessment will be based on marks received for short quizzes that will occur in each tutorial (except for the tutorials in week1). Only the best nine of eleven quizzes will count.

For students in the Monday tutorial the best 8 of 10 quizzes will be counted, due to a public holiday reducing the number of classes.If you provide an appropriate medical certificate to justify your absence
in one of your tutorial quizzes, your grades will be adjusted accordingly.

Tutorial Participation -- 3%
Weekly opportunities (To be done once throughout the semester by each student)

You are required to present the solution to one of the tutorial exercises on the board to receive a grade of up to 3%. You will receive the following marks according to your performance, based on effort and
presentation, as well as correctness: 0-no participation, 1-poor, 2-fair, 3-excellent.

Here is some clarification on how the tutorial participation marks are to be assessed. The tutor will solve
one assigned question for each week (which I will choose). For each additional question, the tutor asks for a volunteer to solve it on the board. After each student presents the question in the tutorial, the tutor will record the student's grade in his/her grade book, and also write the grade on a piece of paper to show the student her grade when the student is done solving on the board.

Suppose no student who has not yet presented volunteers to present a question. Only in this case will we allow a student who has already presented to volunteer and come up to the board. The student then has a chance to raise her grade. This is due to time constraints, as we may not have enough questions for every student in the class to present multiple questions for the chance to raise her grade. In general, it is voluntary for students to come and solve a question. However, if there is  no student who wants to solve a particular question (either has or has not presented before), then the tutor will arbitrarily pick a student who HAS NOT presented before to solve the question.

1. Extensions and alternative assessment conditions for students with disabilities: It is your responsibility to contact the lecturer in the first 2 weeks of the semester and provide them with a copy of your Access Plan.
2. Quizzes will be handed back during tutorial times. If you were not present during that time, please email your tutor to arrange the collection of your quiz.