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 | | Mathematics for Economics - 2nd Edition by Michael Hoy, John Livernois, Chris McKenna, Ray Rees, Anthanassios Stengos ISBN-10: 0262082942 ISBN-10: 0-262-08294-2 ISBN-13: 9780262082945 ISBN-13: 978-0-262-08294-5 Hardcover 2001-06-11 The MIT Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description This book offers a comprehensive presentation of the mathematics required to tackle problems in economic analysis. To give a better understanding of the mathematical concepts, the text follows the logic of the development of mathematics rather than that of an economics course. After a review of the fundamentals of sets, numbers, and functions, the book covers limits and continuity, the calculus of functions of one variable, linear algebra, multivariate calculus, and dynamics. To develop the student's problem-solving skills, the book works through a large number of examples and economic applications. The second edition includes simple game theory, l'Hôpital's rule, Leibniz's rule, and a more intuitive development of the Hamiltonian. An instructor's manual is available. | ||
Reviews | ||
Book for Class I bought this book for my class, Mathematics for economists. Luckily, I didn't have to use it much. However, when I did want to use it, it was not helpful. Instead it confused me more, the explanations are aweful and there are not enough examples. It did have great definitions though. Shipping was quick and the service was great. | ||
notation confussion I am a business major going into Economics (I did not have a good math base). the book is very well explained, but I found that there is different notation throughout the book, and there is no place in the book where different notations' are explained or defined. People who know much more than I do can recognize what each notation means. too many authors could not agree on what notation was to be used. Plus, a poor editing job, got me very confused until I figure out. | ||
A solid math for econ book Some of the previous reviewers have complained that this book is too easy while others thought it was too hard. Personally, I think the authors have struck excacly the right balance between rigor and a "cookbook" approach. Just compare it to the major competing texts. Fundamental Methods by Chiang is way too chatty and a bit out of date (I haven't seen the new edition, but I understand that not much changed). Chiang will get you through undergrad in style, but it's not the best preparation for graduate school. On the other hand, Mathematics for Economists by Simon and Blume is great for advanced undergrads and beginning grad students, but I suspect it's too difficult for beginners who don't already have some solid math preparation under their belts. Hoy et. al. falls right in between these two books. It is an introductory text to be sure, but it covers a lot of topics, some not even covered in S&B. It is challenging but not impossible for beginners and will give them a broad survey of the field. I readily admit that the style is a bit dry, although it would be hard for it not to be with so many authors. Overall, I would recommend this book highly to ambitious undergrads or even underprepared grad students (like I was once). However, if you definitely need something more challenging get Simon and Blume. | ||
only scrapes the surface - but scrapes a lot... Hoy et. al covers a reasonable amount of material but unfortunately not in any real detail. If you are looking to gain a relatively solid (not complete, but solid) understanding of mathematics and it's role in economics at an undergraduate level Chiang's Mathematical Methods for Economics is a much better text. The coverage is more complete and it is a nice text to read - both for self-study and for a class. There is some criticism that it is a little wordy but at this level that should be considered a plus. If you are just looking to get through a class or are just covering the math because you have too - with no real interest in pursuing mathematical economics, then Schaum's Mathematical Economics and/or Mathematics for Business and Economics, may be a wiser purchase. Yes, these are `cookbook' approaches (that is, how to do it with out any deep understanding) but are quite good for quick fixes. Having said that Hoy et. al has some nice graphics which may aid understanding, but is very brief in its treatment of most subjects. If you are still going to use the text, perhaps best to have another along side for deeper reading/understanding. | ||
NOT for beginners I'm taking a introductory math econ course and I was assigned this textbook. I've been having a terrible time making any sense of the book, they do a very poor job of examples, and the students in my program seems to generally agree. Thus far we've managed a course average well below a failing mark (<40% as a whole) with the help of this book. This text may be fine for more advanced math students, but for those with a basic grasp of calculus, it's of no use; especially in a setting such as university where a lot of the learning is done independently. Needless to say, after researching the authors, I realized the only reason this book could have possibly been assigned: 3 of the 5 authors are currently professors at my university. | ||