| Academic year: | 2007-2008 |
| Course code module | FTEBAK3190 |
| Semester: | 1st semester |
| Credits: | 6 |
| Study load (hours) | 168 |
| Theory (hours): | 45,00 |
| Practice/Exercises(hours): | |
| Other (hours): | |
| Part-time program: | 1/2 |
| Instructor(s) | Wilfried Parys
|
| Language of instruction: | Dutch |
| Semester exam information: | semester exam in January |
| Contract restriction information: | |
1. Prerequisites
*Algemene competenties
Basic knowledge of differential calculus and matrix algebra.
*Sequentiality
2. Objectives (expected learning outcomes)
Students must understand the most fundamental results of mathematical optimization. They also must be able to use this mathematics in economic applications.
3. Course content
The first part of the course contains some preliminaries with respect to topology, quadratic forms without and with constraints, convex sets, concave and convex functions, quasiconcave and quasiconvex functions.
The second part studies maxima and minima of functions, without constraints, with equality constraints and with inequalities. The general results can then be used to generate the basic theorems of linear programming as a special case. We also present the main results on comparative statics. The exercises treat both mathematical problems and economic applications.
4. Teaching method
Direct contact: Lectures
5. Assessment method
Exam: Written, without oral presentationOpen book
6. Compulsory reading – study material
The course is teached in Dutch, by means of the following text:
Parys W. & Pauwels W. Optimalisering voor Economisten (Optimization for Economists). Universitas, Antwerp.
7. Recommended reading - study material
The course contains an extensive list of recommended (non-compulsory) literature which may be consulted for additional information.
An interesting book which students may wish to read in preparation of the course is the biography of John Nash (Nobel Prize 1994), entitled "A Beautiful Mind", written in 1998 by Sylvia Nasar (and subsequently turned into a film). The book provides a good description of the environment at
Princeton
University
during the pioneering days of game theory and linear and non-linear programming. Two important pioneers of non-linear programming at
Princeton
, Albert Tucker (1905-1995) and Harold Kuhn (1925- -), were respectively John Nash’s PhD supervisor and a fellow-student (and subsequently colleague) of his. In April 2007 both Kuhn and Nash were in Antwerp for Nash's honorary doctorate and the John Nash Symposium.
8. Tutoring