MBA 602
Graduate Introduction to
Business Mathematics
Prof. Stephen J. Huxley
(Note: Please check the course website for revisions to this syllabus.)
Office: McLaren 210 email: huxleys@usfca.edu Phone: 415-422-6628 Fax: 415-422-2502
Office Hours: Wed. and Thurs.
5:15-6:00 PM, directly following the class or by appointment.
Website: http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/huxleys
Primary Learning Goals:
1. To familiarize students with the fundamentals of college algebra, linear and quadratic equations, systems of equations and inequalities, and mathematics of finance. Emphasis is on applications for business decisions.
2. To introduce students to the use of spreadsheets for analysis purposes.
Textbooks:
1. Required: Huxley, Lecture Notes
You must bring these notes to class each time.
2. Required:
Lehmann and Zeitz, Quantitative Methods for Business, (Wiley,
2003)
This will be the basic text for the course. Like most text books, you should use it primarily as a reference for material in class.
3. Required:
Paulos, Beyond Numeracy, Vintage (1992)
Beyond Numeracy was written
in response to the success of Paulos’s earlier book, Innumeracy, which
actually made it to the NT Times Best Seller List. It consists of a series of over 70 short essays on various
mathematical topics. I have tried to
match the essays to topics discussed in class.
Sometimes this is a loose fit because the book is not designed
specifically for this course, but as MBA students, you need to at least have a
cursory knowledge of a broad range of quantitative topics, and I know of no
better book.
4. Optional: Excel Models for Business and Operations Management, by John F. Barlow (an “ebook”).
Join the free “ebook” online library directly ( www.netlibrary.com ), through USF (http://www.usfca.edu/library/databases/netlibrary.html ), or through your local library, and use it as a second reference. You may have to do this multiple times as the check out time is uncertain. This would be the first regular semester I have used this service and will be interested to see how well it works.
Note - This course will also
utilize a number of video tapes from the Annenberg/CBP Project (http://www.learner.org/search/advanced_browse.html
). Most of these were made in the late
1980’s and early 1990’s. But although
they are beginning to age, nothing new has come along that does a better
job. Like the writings of Aristotle and
Plato, good explanations of quantitative material never goes “out of date.”
Assessment:
Quizzes = 20%
Homework = 30%
Final Exam= 50%
Grading: Letter grades for the course will be based on the following approximate scale: 93 percent and above = A, 88-92 percent = A-, 85-87 percent = B+, 70 to 84 percent = B. Since this is a graduate class, I expect no one to get below 70 percent, but should anyone fail to achieve this level, grades of B- down through F may be awarded.
Quizzes: You should anticipate a short quiz (closed book) each week on the readings, handouts, homework topics, and/or prior lecture material. I will drop your lowest score. If you have done the homework and readings, come to class and paid attention, these quizzes should present no difficulty.
Final Exam: You may use any text for the exam but not the Lecture Notes. You may bring in four double-sided sheets of study notes for the exam, but they must contain only original print or writing - absolutely no photocopies of anything. I retain the right to inspect and remove any study notes that violate this condition. Calculators are permitted but not laptops. If you cannot attend the exam for reasons beyond your control, notify me before test time if you wish to be eligible for a make-up.
Homework Assignments: You must email your homework to me according to the instructions below. You will often be simply duplicating examples. The advantage to this is you get instant feedback that you are doing it correctly. The disadvantage is that you could conceivably get the correct result by blindly following the step-by-step procedures without really learning how you got it, especially if you fail to read the supporting material and understand the explanations. Your own education is at stake here, and I presume you are mature enough to avoid the temptation to “just get it done” without understanding it. If you succumb to a “monkey-see monkey-do” modus operandi, your knowledge base will be very shallow.
Homework is to be turned in individually, but I encourage you to help each other. As always, the educational value of the class is of paramount importance. If this purpose is best served by seeking voluntary assistance from others in the class, you should feel free to do so. Anyone who feels burdened by a DLP (Dumb Lazy Parasite) should see me. You may also seek the assistance of the teaching assistant for this course – details will be announced in class.
You can check your homework score on the website, usually posted within one week of the due date. A score of 10 will tell you that you did it perfectly. If you follow the instructions below faithfully, you should end up with a perfect score on all homework assignments. If you have any questions about your homework, you can email your request to me. In tallying your final grades, I will drop your lowest homework score. I also reserve the right to award extra credit to students whose work is not only tidy and neat but also shows exemplary style. It is one thing to get the generically correct answer. It is something else to get it and present it with design, appearance and style. Anybody can make a video or movie – Steven Spielberg does it with style.
Instructions for
Emailing Homework – Please follow closely. If you have any
questions, please ask me.
1. Excel homework must be emailed to me before the beginning of the class meeting on the due date. Late homework will be eligible for only half credit if turned in within one week after the due date. Because computers and email traffic is sensitive to small errors, you must follow the rest of these instructions precisely to be eligible for credit. Send it to: huxleyhomework@usfca.edu . Send a copy to yourself to prove you sent it on time in case there is a problem.
2. In the email Subject line, indicate the course, section homework number, and name. For example, John Smith, SID number 123-45-6789, is enrolled in MBA 602 Grad. Intro to Mathematics, in the Thursday, 6:00 PM section and is emailing his second Excel homework. In his email, he would put
Subject: 602Th6HW2smitjo.xls
3. Attach the file using the same name as the subject line. For John Smith, this would be
Attachment file name: 602Th6HW2smitjo.xls
4. In cell A1 on the first sheet (or ‘tab’ or ‘ply’) of the homework, type the same file name again. In cell A2, type your real name in full, in A3, your SID, in A4, you section, and in A5, the homework number. John Smith would type:
|
|
A |
|
1 |
602Th6HW2smitjo.xls |
|
2 |
John Smith |
|
3 |
123-45-6789 |
|
4 |
Th 6:00 PM |
|
5 |
Homework 2 |
5. When doing your homework, put each figure on a separate sheet (or ‘tab’ or ‘ply’) within the same workbook. For example, if Homework 2 says to replicate examples on pages 85 and 86 then the second tab should be renamed from “Sheet 2” to “HW2 Page 85,” and the third to “HW 2 Page 86.” (Right click on the tab for the ‘Rename’ command; you can also insert new sheets with the right click as needed.) When you save the file, save it so that the appropriate figure is the first thing a person sees when viewing that sheet (to go the Cell A1 quickly, use Control Home on your keyboard). If you do not complete a particular figure, you should still rename the tab and type ‘Not Done” in Cell A1.
6. Save all the work assigned for the homework in a single Excel file and send it only once. Homework sent in bits and pieces cannot be given any credit. Your submission will be opened only once, and only the first one received will count, so do not send it until it is completely ready and all parts are finished. (Put yourself in the place of the grader – opening many files and searching for randomly placed material is a nuisance and waste of time.) Again, if you follow these instructions faithfully, you should end up with a perfect score on the homework section of the course.
Topical Coverage:
You should do the readings before class as indicated
below. “Text” refers to the book by
Lehmann and Zeitz. Quizzes will begin
in Week 3 and cover the readings and prior lecture material. For homework, be sure to read and comprehend
any explanations or examples to understand the procedure and theory that back
up the homework (consult another text if the theory is not clear). For the Excel homework, I should be able to
see the formulas that back up the values in your cells.
Wk Tuesday
1 1/29/04 Introduction – Basic Algebra Review
Lecture Notes: Overview and Appendix 2
Video: FAPP #3
Before Class 2:
Text: Read Chapter 1; Appendix A.1 – A.4 as needed, p. 423-459 (“Survival Algebra”)
Homework 1:
a. Text: Complete the exercises to get the Excel result (table or figure) on the pages below.
Each exercise should go on a separate tab in your spreadsheet labeled with the page number:
1. Section 1.3 Page 17
2. Section 1.4 Page 26
3. Section 1.5 Page 45
4. Section 1.6 Page 57
5. Section 1.7 Page 63
b. Assume you drop 26 scrabble pieces (one with each letter of the English alphabet) onto a table to see how long it would take to get the letters into perfect alphabetic order. Use Excel to determine how long it would take on average to do this if each drop and inspection took one second.
2 2/5/04
Principles of Model Analysis; Excel for Business Modelers
Lecture Notes Module 1 plus
handouts
Due: Homework 1 (follow emailing instructions)
Before Class 3:
Text: Read Chapter 2
Paulos: Read xi (Intoduction), 3 (Mathematical…), 7 (Algebra…), 218 (Scientific…),
Homework 2:
b. a. Text: Complete the exercises to get the Excel result (table or figure) on the pages below.
Each exercise should go on a separate tab in your spreadsheet labeled with the page number:
1. Section 2.1 Page 75
2. Section 2.2 Page 81 (second spreadsheet form)
b. Complete the following problems from Basic Algebraic Operations and Equations in Appendix 3 at the back of the Lecture Notes (page numbers are in the upper right hand corner). You may turn these in on hard copy done by hand or you may do them on Excel.
Page 4 – 17, 31, 41, 51, 65, 71, 81, 89
Page 6 – 5, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, 39, 43, 49, 53, 55
Page 8 – 5, 11, 19, 37
Page 9 – 7, 9, 15, 19, 27, 31
Page 11/12 – 7, 11, 13, 19, 21, 25, 41
Page 15 – 3, 11, 19, 49, 55
Page 21 – 11
Page 23 – 3, 11, 19, 23, 25, 51
Page 24 – 5, 7, 15, 29
3 2/12/04
Financial Modeling
Due: Homework 2 (see above)
Videos AAO #7 Models for Growth
Quiz 1 on prior material and readings.
Before Class 4:
Text: Chapters 3
Lecture Notes: Growth and Finance Module.
Paulos: 62 (E), 71 (Exponential…), 87 (Functions),
Homework 3:
a. Text: Complete the exercises to get the Excel result (table or figure) on the pages below.
Each exercise should go on a separate tab in your spreadsheet labeled with the page number:
1. Section 3.1 Page 118
2. Section 3.2 Page 125 - Solve Example 3.2.8 on Excel – omit graph.
3. Section 3.3 Page 131 (Table only, no graphs)
4. Section 3.4 Page 141 – Solve Example 3.4.5 on Excel
5. Section 3.5 Page 145 – Solve Example 3.5.1 on Excel
b. Part A of the “Independence Calculation” handed in class
4 2/19/04
Optimization
Due: Homework 3 (see above)
Videos: Algebra #21 Linear Programming
Quiz 2 on prior material and readings.
Before the next class:
Read Text, Chapters 4, 5
Paulos: 27 (Calculus), 136 (Matrices…), 133 (Linear…),
Homework 4: Solve Problems 1-8 (“Baby LP’s”) in the Lecture Notes, Pages 100-102 using
Solver (try to formulate and solve by yourself, but see the following pages if needed.)
5 2/26/04
Optimization - Continued
Due: Homework 4 (see above)
Videos (Time permitting)
Quiz 3 on prior material and readings.
Before the next class:
Read Text, Chapter 6
Paulos: 147 (Monte…), 52 (Computation…), 32 (Chaos Theory)
Homework 4: Solve Problems 10-15 (“Additional LP Problems”) in the Lecture Notes, Pages 113-114 using Solver (Try to formulate these problems by yourself, but see the following pages if needed.)
6 3/4/04
Monte Carlo Simulation; Review
Due: Homework 5 (see above)
Quiz 4 on prior material and readings.
Prepare for Final Exam
7 3/11/04
Final Exam