CS&SS 505/SOC 512: Review of Mathematics for Social Scientists

Spring Quarter 2012

Instructor: Adrian Raftery, Professor of Statistics and Sociology. My email address is raftery@u.washington.edu. My office is room C-313, Padelford Hall. My phone number is 206-543-4505, where there is an answering machine.

Office hours: I will hold office hours on Tuesdays from 9:00-10:20 in Padelford C-313, or by appointment. Please do not hesitate to come and see me to ask questions, if you have a problem or if you just want to discuss issues arising in the class.

Course description: This course provides a quick and short one-credit review of some of the mathematics and probability needed to take the graduate courses offered by the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences. It reviews calculus, matrix algebra, and probability.

Texts: Much of the material is covered in introductory calculus, linear algebra and statistics texts, and in high school integrated math texts. Here are two suggested books that cover much of the material at about the level of the course and are designed for social scientists. They are also at a reasonable price.
Iversen, Gudmund R. (1996). Calculus. Series: Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Sage.
Namboodiri, Krishnan (1984). Matrix algebra Series: Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Sage.

Course outline:

  1. Review of algebra
  2. Functions and limits
  3. Differentiation
  4. Maximization of functions
  5. Integration
  6. Matrix algebra
  7. Linear equations and least squares
  8. Probability
Registration: Please register for the course for credit; auditing is not allowed. If you are not a registered student but are a UW employee, you may be eligible to take this class tuition-free via the UW Tuition Exemption Benefit. In any event, all students must register. See the registration instructions for students, UW employees and non-UW individuals.

Requirements: Your course grade will be based on homework assignments (60%), and a final exam (40%). The class is graded Credit/No Credit overall, but numerical grades will be assigned for homework and final exam, for your information. Homework will be assigned most weeks in class, and will be due in class on the Tuesday of the following week at 12:30pm. Late homework cannot be accepted. The final exam will take place on Thursday June 7, from 10:30am-12:20pm.

Last updated March 8, 2012