UGBS 202 Study Guide
UGBS 202 Study Guide
BUSINESS
MATHEMATICS
STUDY GUIDE
UGBS 202
BUSINESS MATHEMATICS
STUDY GUIDE
For Undergraduates Level 200
2016/17 Academic Year
Many thanks to Mr. Charles Ofori Gyamfi, the Teaching Assistant, for
his immense contribution towards the development of this study guide as
well as the development of the course slides.
STUDY GUIDE
UGBS 202 BUSINESS MATHEMATICS
Table of Contents
2. INSTRUCTORS ............................................................................................................ 4
4. OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................. 5
7. LEARNING OUTCOMES.............................................................................................. 5
8. ASSESSMENT .............................................................................................................. 6
COURSE DESCRIPTION
1. COURSE WEBSITE
Please check the University of Ghana Sakai Website
2. INSTRUCTORS
Dr. Anthony Afful-Dadzie* Mr. Divine Agozie
Dept. of Operations and MIS Dept. of Operations and MIS
University of Ghana Business School University of Ghana Business School
P. O. Box LG 78 P. O. Box LG 78
Legon, Accra Legon, Accra
Phone: XXXXXXXXX
Email: XXXXXXXXXXXX
4. OVERVIEW
Business Mathematics brings together a collection of mathematical tools that are useful in most
quantitative business courses. These tools include differentiation, integration, functions and matrix
algebra as well as basic statistics and probabilities. We will quickly review functions,
differentiation, integration, and linear inequalities, and their application in business in the first
part of the course. This will be followed by an introduction to basic mathematical finance in the
second part. The third part of the course focuses on basic statistics and probabilities and its
application in business. These tools and their applications will be demonstrated using MS Excel
whenever possible.
5. COURSE FORMAT
The course content will be delivered online through the SAKAI Learning Management System
(Sakai LMS). The Sakai LMS will be used to deliver
• Video Sessions
• Session Slides
• Session Reading Materials
• Assessments – Tests, Quizzes and Assignments
6. COURSE OBJECTIVE
The overall objective of this course is to give students the understanding of the basic mathematics
needed for analyzing business problems. At the end of the course, students are expected to be
able to formulate, solve, interpret, and analyze further, real world business problems using the
mathematical concepts covered. Students should also appreciate the importance of data and
understand the various techniques for collecting, presenting and describing data.
7. LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students are expected to have a good knowledge in the mathematical concepts covered in this
course which will serve as a foundation for most of the business courses at the senior
undergraduate level.
Specifically, students must:
Understand differentiation and Integration and their applications in business
Be able to formulate and optimize business decisions
Understand Time Value of Money and be able to use concepts such as Payback Period,
NPV, and IRR to assess business ventures.
Be able to collect, present, and analyze data for insight and decision making purposes
Be able to analyze business problems using decision tress
8. ASSESSMENT
Students will be assessed based on their performances in the Interim Assessment (IA) exam to
be held in the middle of the semester, and the final exam to be taken at the end of the semester.
Both exams will have a blend of multiple choice and standard full questions. A summary of the
weights for each exam is provided below.
9. RECOMMENDED TEXT
Part 1 and 2:
Ernest F. Haeussler, Richard. S. Paul, and Richard J. Wood. Introductory Mathematical Analysis
for Business, Economics, and the Life and Social Sciences. Pearson, 2013.
Bradley, T., and Patton, P. (2013). Essential mathematics for economics and business. Wiley.
Waters, D., & Waters, C. D. J. (2008). Quantitative methods for business. Pearson Education.
Part 3:
Groebner, D. F., Shannon, P. W., Fry, P. C., and Smith, K. D. (2011). Business Statistics: A Decision
Making Approach. Prentice Hall/Pearson.
Week Part
1-5 1
6-10 2
11-13 3
‘break up’ the whole, integration does the opposite and ‘brings together’, the smaller pieces making
up the whole.
12.1. Session 1 – Introduction to Functions and Differentiation
To differentiate, is to ‘break up’ in to pieces. In mathematics, if the variable y is related to the
variable x, so that y is a function of x, then to differentiate the function y with respect to the variable
x, is to find the changes/impact on y, as a result of an infinitesimal change in the variable x. For
instance, profit is known to relate to product quantity. One could be interested in what happens to
profit when the current quantity size is increased by a small amount. If the profit function is
differentiable, this can be determined using differentiation. The aim of this session is to introduce
students to this important concept of differentiation and its application in business.
12.1.1. Goals and Objectives
At the end of the session, the student should be able to understand the following concepts:
1. Functions
a. What is a function
b. The role of a function
c. Example functions in business and economics
2. Differentiation of a function
a. Differentiating from the First Principle
b. Rules of differentiation
i. Single function
ii. Two or more functions of the same variable
iii. The Quotient Rule
Business managers, investors and stock traders often monitor the movement of prices of goods and
stocks, market share and sales over time. Such movement or changes can be monitored using Index
numbers. Various indices exist including the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, Retail
Price Index, and Commodity Price Index. A number of stock exchanges such as the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) and the London Stock Exchange (FTSE) maintain their own indices to track the
movement of average stock price over time. This session overviews the various techniques for
monitoring important business values over time.
students to the concepts of amortization and sinking fund for meeting future obligations. Another
important concept especially in lending transactions is length of compounding period. If interest is
compounded more than once per year, the effective rate per year will be slightly higher than the
nominal rate often quoted by lending agencies. The second part of the session introduces students
to the concepts of nominal and effective interest rates as used in the evaluation of investments,
banking transactions, and evaluation of assets.
13.3.1 Goals and Objectives
At the end of the session, the student should be able to:
1. understand amortization and sinking fund
2. construct amortization and sinking fund schedule
3. understand Nominal and effective interest rates
4. determine effective interest rate from a nominal interest rate and vice versa
5. understand continuous compounding
6. compute Inflation adjusted interest rates
13.3.2 Activities and Assignments
This week, complete the following tasks:
7. Log onto the UG Sakai LMS course site: http://sakai.ug.edu.gh
8. Read chapter 5 of Bradley, chapter 5 Haeussler, and chapter 8 of Donald and the
accompanied notes for session 9.
9. Watch the Videos for Session 9
10. Review lecture Slides for Session 9
11. Visit the Chat Room and discuss the Forum question for Session 9
12. Complete the Individual Assignment for Session 9