Week 1: Review of Algebra

Assist. Prof. Burak Doğan

2024/2025 Autumn
Bahçeşehir University FEASS
Department of Economics
Mathematics for Social Sciences I (ECO1161)
23-27 September 2024

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About Me

Assistant Professor of Economics at Bahçeşehir University

Background in Business Administration, Law, Capital Markets

and Finance, Economics

Research Interests in Distributive Justice, Law and Economics,

Financial Economics

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Course Overview

14-week semester, 3-hour in-person classes

Up to 3 weeks of online classes (for holidays or academic
events)
Midterm: Week 8 (9-17 November)
End of Classes: 27 December
Make-up for Midterm: 30-31 December
Final exams: 2-12 January
Resit exams: 20-26 January
Grading: 10% Coursera, 10% quizzes, 30% midterm, 50%
final

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Course Overview (cont’d)

Reference Textbook: Introductory Mathematical Analysis

by Haeussler, Paul, and Wood (13th or 14th edition).

Contact: [email protected], Itslearning, or

LinkedIn/Instagram

On campus 4 days a week (Thursdays research days)

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Algebra = Al-Jabr = Completion

Al-Khwarizmi (d. 847)

First to use algebraic operations for inheritance disputes (Van
der Waerden, 2013)
Resolves disputes by referring to applicable laws
Calls the operations as inheritance algebra not arithmetic
(Gandz, 1938)
Procedure:
1 Determines legal heirs
2 Derives applicable rules
3 Specifies the method
4 Proposes a solution

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1. Sets of Real Numbers

A set : A collection of objects

An Element: An object in a set

Let’s define A = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and B = {0, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5}

and C = {5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0} and D = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

No elements = empty set, denoted by ∅.

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Specific Sets of Numbers

The set of positive integers: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . . }

The set of negative integers: {. . . , −3, −2, −1}

The set of integers: {. . . , −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . . }

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Rational and Irrational Numbers

p
Rational Number: q, where both are integers and q ̸= 0.

Rational Number: Terminating or Non-terminating and

Repeating decimal parts

Irrational Number: Non-terminating and√Non-repeating

decimal parts. Examples include π and 2.

Together, Q and R \ Q form R

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2. Some Properties of Real Numbers

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3. Exponents and Radicals

For n being a positive integer, x n represents the product of n x’s:

x n = x.x.x . . . x
1
x −n =
x.x.x . . . x
1
= xn
x −n
x0 = 1

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3. Exponents and Radicals (cont’d)

Given x n :
The letter n is called the exponent
x is the base

If r n = x, where n is a positive integer, then

√
r can be isolated as r = n x
r is called the principal n-th root of x

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Laws of Exponents and Radicals

x m .x n = x m+n
xm m−n = 1
xn = x x n−m
(x m )n = x mn
(xy )n = x n .y n
 n n
x
y = yx n
√n
√ √
x. n y = n xy
√
n x
q
n x
n y =
√
y
pm n
√ √
x = mn x
m √
x n = n xm

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4. Operations with Algebraic Expressions

If numbers represented by symbols are combined by any or all of

the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,
exponentiation, and extraction of roots, then the resulting
expression is called an algebraic expression.
q
3 x 3 +2x−5
x−5 is an algebraic expression in x

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Special Products

Square of a sum: (x + a)2 = x 2 + 2ax + a2

Square of a difference: (x − a)2 = x 2 − 2ax + a2

Product of sum and difference: (x + a)(x − a) = x 2 − a2

Cube of a sum: (x + a)3 = x 3 + 3x 2 a + 3xa2 + a3

Cube of a difference: (x − a)3 = x 3 − 3x 2 a + 3xa2 − a3

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5. Factoring

If two or more expressions are multiplied together, the expressions

are called factors of the product.

Rules for factoring:

Common factor: xy + yz = y (x + z)
x 2 + (a + b)x + ab = (x + a)(x + b)
Perfect square: x 2 + 2ax + a2 = (x + a)2
Difference of two squares: x 2 − a2 = (x − a)(x + a)
Sum of two cubes: x 3 + a3 = (x + a)(x 2 − ax + a2 )
Difference of two cubes: x 3 − a3 = (x − a)(x 2 + ax + a2 )

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6. Fractions
Simplifying fractions: Allows us to multiply/divide the numerator
and denominator by the same nonzero quantity.

Multiplication and Division of Fractions:

a c ac
. =
b d bd

a c ad
÷ =
b d bc

Rationalizing the denominator:

Multiply both numerator and denominator by the conjugate of
the denominator.
Note that two binomials are conjugates when they have the
same terms but opposite signs in the middle.
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Addition and Subtraction of Fractions

a b a+b
+ =
c c c

a b a−b
− =
c c c

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7. Equations, in Particular Linear Equations

An equation is a statement that two expressions are equal. The

two expressions that make up an equation are called its sides.
They are separated by the equality sign, =.

A linear equation in one variable can be written in the form:

ax + b = 0

where a and b are constants and a ̸= 0.

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Operations That Produce Equivalent Equations

Adding/subtracting the same polynomial to/from both sides

of an equation.

Multiplying/dividing both sides of an equation by the same

nonzero constant.

Replacing either side of an equation by an equal expression.

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Operations That May Not Produce Equivalent Equations

Multiplying both sides of an equation by an expression

involving the variable.

Dividing both sides of an equation by an expression involving

the variable.

Raising both sides of an equation to equal powers.

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8. Quadratic Equations

A quadratic equation in the variable x can be written in the form:

ax 2 + bx + c = 0

where a, b, and c are constants and a ̸= 0.

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Quadratic Formula

The solutions for the quadratic equation ax 2 + bx + c = 0 are

given by the quadratic formula:
√
−b ± b 2 − 4ac
x=
2a

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Quadratic-Form Equation

Sometimes an equation that is not quadratic can be transformed

into a quadratic equation by an appropriate substitution.

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References

1 Haeussler, E. F., Paul, R. S., & Wood, R. J. (2019).

Introductory Mathematical Analysis for Business, Economics,
and the Life and Social Sciences. Pearson.
2 Doğan, B. (2022). Lecture Notes. Unpublished lecture notes.

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