MATHEMATICS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES

Anno accademico
2019/2020 Programmi anni precedenti
Titolo corso in inglese
MATHEMATICS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES
Codice insegnamento
LT9030 (AF:302484 AR:166684)
Modalità
In presenza
Crediti formativi universitari
6
Livello laurea
Laurea
Settore scientifico disciplinare
SECS-S/06
Periodo
2° Periodo
Anno corso
1
Spazio Moodle
Link allo spazio del corso
Mathematical knowledge, and the ability to use it, is one of the most important means of tackling quantitative problems.

The course offers an introduction to essential mathematical concepts and tools which are useful for political and social sciences, including key concepts of calculus in one and more than one variable and of optimization. The course will focus also on Social Choice Theory and we will consider some formal aspects of social choice and their application to democracy.
The course aims at introducing students to the fundamentals of calculus in one variable. The course begins with the fundamental building blocks of mathematics, then covers essential topics such as derivatives and optimization.
At the end of the course students should have acquired the ability to analyse properties of functions of one variable and the ability to compute derivatives and they should be able to maximize/minimize a quantity described by a one variable function.
The course assumes that students have no mathematical background beyond secondary school algebra.
-Functions, relation and utility
-Voting methods
-Voting paradoxes
-Characterizing voting methods

-Introduction to calculus and the derivative
-Optimization
W.H. Moore, D.A. Siegel A Mathematics Course for Political and Social Research, 2013, Princeton University Press.
During the course other references will be given.
Grading is based on a final written exam consisting in four questions/exercises. Students are also required to write a short essay about Social Choice.
Lectures and pratice sessions.
Inglese
scritto
Programma definitivo.
Data ultima modifica programma: 04/02/2020