HE100 BASIC MATHEMATICS FOR ECONOMISTS

Introductory Topics II: Simple Algebra

2.1 Summation Notation

2.2 Rules for Sums
2.3 Double Sums
2.4 Few Aspects of Logic
2.5 Mathematical Proofs
2.6 Essentials of Set Theory

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2.1 Summation Notation
Summation notations are widely used in statistics and econometrics.

Example: Census data: Suppose a country is divided into 27 urban planning areas. Let
denote the population in area . Then the total population is given by

+ + + + + + + + .

The capital Greek letter sigma _ is used as a summation symbol, and the sum is written as

This reads “the sum from = 1 to = 27 of ”.

If there are areas, then the summation nation is . Again, this notation tells us
to form the sum of all the terms that result when we substitute successive integers
from starting with = 1 and ending with = .

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 The index ________ to be 1. For example, . It is the total population in the 4
areas numbered from 4 to 7.

A general rule is and and are both _______.

Exercise: Expand the summation

(a)

(b) 5

(c) ( )

Exercise:
Express the terms below by using the summation notation

5+5×2 +5×2 +5×2 + . +5 × 2

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2.2 Rules for Sums

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 When properties (1) to (3) are combined, summation rules can be applied in
combination

Exercise:
(a) ( + )

(b) ( ) 5

(c) ( + 3)

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2.3 Double Sums

There are rows and colummns. Therefore, we have ________

m*n numbers in all.

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 In a finite double sum, the _______
order of the summation is immaterial.
=
o where is the number of elements in each row; is the number of columns.

Example:
10 1 0
1 2 6

Example: ( +2 )

( +2 )= [( + 2) + ( + 4) + ( + 6) + ( + 8)]

= (4 + 20) = (4 + 20) + (8 + 20) + (12 + 20) = 84

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2.4 Few Aspects of Logic
The concepts of necessary condition and sufficient condition are commonly used in
economics.
Suppose and are two statements. Whenever is true then is necessarily true.
In this case, we can write

(read as “ implies ”.)

(or) If then ,
(or) is a consequence of .
is a ________________
necessary condition for .

That means is true only if is true.

Example:

(a) John is a healthy person John breathes without difficulty

(b) >2 >4

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 We have seen that is a necessary condition for . In addition, we say is a
_________________for
sufficiet condition . After all, for to be true, it is sufficient that is true.

The truth of suffices for the establishment of the truth of , but it is __________
not necessary

that must be held to make true.

Example:

A person is a father A person is a male

“A person is a father” is sufficient enough to imply “a person is a male”. But it is not
necessary the only way to be a male. For example, ___________________________
you can be single without having
_____________
kids but still be male

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Note that the father male. The converse is not
__ true, father male. Fatherhood

is not a necessary condition for maleness.

Another situation is is both necessary and sufficient for , written as .

(read as if and only if ).

If P then Q, P(sufficient)=>Q (necessary)
If Q then P, P(necessary)<=Q(sufficient)
Example:

There are less than 30 days in the month February.

There are less than 30 days in the month February

Therefore,
There are less than 30 days in the month <=>
___ February.

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 Remarks

1. In order to prove , we need to show that follows logically from .

2. Similarly, to prove , we need to demonstrate follows logically from .

3. To prove necessitates a demonstration that and follow each other.

4. is equivalent to ____
not ______
not . (why?)

Example:
(a) If it is raining, the grass is getting wet.
(b) If the grass is not getting wet, then it is not raining.

Logically, (a) and (b) are equivalent.

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2.5 Mathematical Proofs
Basic understanding about the different types of proof that are used in mathematics.

In mathematics, the most important results are called theorems.

Every mathematical theorem can be formulated as an implication , where is

a proposition or a statement or a series of propositions called premises (i.e., what we
know). And is a proposition or a statement or a series of propositions that are called
the conclusions (i.e., what we want to know).

Two types of proof: (1) _____

direct proof; (2) ______
indirect proof.

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 Direct proof: by starting from with the premises and successively working forward
to conclusions .

Indirect proof: prove the implication . Begin by supposing that is not true,
and on the basis demonstrate that cannot be true either. This is legitimate, because

is equivalent to ____
~ _____
~ .

Example:
P Q
Use the two methods of proof to prove that +5 4>0 >0

Direct proof: Indirect Proof:

-x^2 + 5x - 4 > 0
-x^2 + 5x -4 <= 0
5x > x^2 + 4 > 0 x <= 0
5x > 0 5x<= 0
5x - x^2 - 4 <= 0
x>0

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Remark:
(a) The two methods of proof just outlined are all examples of ________
deductive reasoning,
that is, reasoning based on consistent rules of logic.

(b) In contrast, many branches of science use _________

inductive reasoning. This process
draws general conclusions based on only on a ___
few (or even many
____) observations.

(c) In mathematics, inductive reasoning is not recognized as a form of proof. In

economics, inductive reasoning often turns out to be false.

Example:
Suppose a particular company’s profit has risen for each of the past 20 years. But this
does not guarantee that they will rise once again in this year. It would represent a very
good indication that the proposition is true, but it is not a mathematical proof.

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2.6 Essentials of Set Theory
In mathematics, a set is simply a ________of
collection distinct objects. These objects may be
a group of (distinct) numbers, or something else.
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natural numbers that are bigger than 0 but smaller than 1

The objects in a set are called the _______

element (or _______)
numbers of the set.

Not every set can be defined by listing all its elements. For example, if we let S denote
the set of all positive integers, it is almost ___________
impossible to write down all elements.
Instead, we write = { : is a positive integer}
{ } o/
such that empty set
If is an element of the set S, we write ___
E . If is not an element of the set S, we
belongs
write ___
/ S.
E

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Two sets A and B are considered equal if each element of A is an element of B and
each element of B is an element in A. A= B.
A={1, 0, 4} = { 0, 4, 1}=B

A is a subset of B if it is true that every element of A is in B, .

{1, 2} {1, 2, 3, 6, 10}

The complement of a set A, denoted by , is the set of all elements that are in the
universal set but are not in A.
Suppose the universal set = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10} and = {1, 2, 3}.
Then, = {4,5,6,7,8,9,10}

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 Remark
(1) A A
(2) If A B and B A, then __________.
A=B
(3) If a set does not have any elements, this set is called the empty set. We use either
_____
{} or .
(4) General specification for writing a set S is:
S = {a typical element: defining properties}
(Statistics) Examples:
(a) N represents the set of natural number, i.e., = {1,2,3,4, … }
(b) Z represents the set of integers, i.e., = {… , 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, … }
(c) Q represents the set of all rational number, i.e,
={ : , 0}.
(d) R represents the real numbers, i.e, ={ }

Example: Clearly, N is the subset of Z, Z is the subset of Q, and Q is the subset of R.

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Example:

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