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Maths in Business
Maths in Business is a free program available to all students at the University of Sydney Business School. The program includes workshops in intermediate-level maths and Excel; both fundamental skills for any aspiring business student.
- Maths in Business
- Resources and registration
Maths in Business
Online and on-campus programs
We offer on campus and online workshops with an experienced math tutor for a select number of topic areas.
Registrations for Semester 1 will open 9 am, Monday 24 February 2025. Maths in Business workshops will begin in Week 2 of Semester 1, Monday 3 March 2025.
As a business school student you will have automatic access to our Maths in Business Canvas site, where you can find our Powerpoints, demonstrations, help sheets and worksheets for the program.
The Maths in Business program helps you to gain high achievement throughout your business degree. Most foundational units of study require a firm understanding of maths, and this is essential to senior units in accounting, business analytics and finance.
What’s involved
Materials are structured to strengthen your basic knowledge of algebra before progressing to calculus and probability, after which you can refine your Excel skills.
We offer all subjects at beginner and intermediate levels. Find out what workshops are available, what will be covered in each workshop and if there is any assumed knowledge.
Benefits of Maths in Business
Maths workshops are offered in a variety of areas, giving you the opportunity to:
- master basic and intermediate maths skills
- get ahead in subjects such as accounting, finance and statistics
- work with practice materials and resources that will enable you to build autonomously on your learning and understanding.
- meet new people in your course; great way to break the ice when starting university
- meet with a high-achieving math tutor who completely understands the first-year experience
Workshops
Maths in Business workshops are one-off and not reoccurring. The workshops under the same topic area are repeats of each other created to ensure that all students can attend the workshop.
This means that you will only need to attend one workshop under each topic area. (e.g. If you attend the Excel Fundamentals in Week 2 there is no need to attend this workshop again in Weeks 3 - 6 as these would be a repeats of the same workshop.)
Maths in Business provides the following workshops and materials in 2025:
Assumed knowledge – None
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020, BUSS1030, BUSS1040
Relevant postgraduate units of study – ACCT5001, QBUS5001, FINC2011, FINC5001, ECON5040, QBUS6320
This beginner’s level workshop will introduce students to basic algebraic functions with particular emphasis on linear and quadratic functions, which often form the basis of various quantitative concepts that Business School students may encounter during their studies. This workshop will also cover different methods of solving simultaneous equations and inequalities, which will be treated as assumed knowledge for more advanced Maths in Business workshops.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Factorising, solving and graphing both linear and quadratic functions.
- Learning how to solve simultaneous equations using the substitution, elimination and graphical methods.
- Solving harder simultaneous equations involving a mixture of quadratic and linear functions.
- Learning how to solve linear and quadratic inequalities.
Assumed knowledge - Algebra, Equations and Inequalities
Relevant undergraduate units of study- BUSS1020, BUSS1030, BUSS1040, FINC2011
Relevant postgraduate units of study- ACCT5001, QBUS5001, FINC5001, ECON5040
This major focus of this intermediate-level workshop is the application of algebraic, exponential and logarithmic functions to various business contexts, which students will encounter throughout the course of their Business degree. This workshop will introduce exponential and logarithmic rules as well as sigma notation while further developing student abilities to use simultaneous equations and inequalities to solve business problems.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Reviewing and applying logarithmic rules.
- Reviewing and applying exponential rules.
- Understanding sigma notation.
- Applying simultaneous equations in a business context through analysing supply and demand functions.
- Applying linear and quadratic inequalities to business problems.
Assumed knowledge – Algebra, Equations and Inequalities and Business Applications of Algebra, Exponentials and Logarithms
Relevant undergraduate units of study - BUSS1020, BUSS1040
Relevant postgraduate units of study - FINC2011, FINC5001, QBUS5001, ECON5040
This beginner’s level workshop is an introductory course in differentiation, which is a skill necessary for various quantitative majors such as Economics, Econometrics, Finance and Business Analytics. As a fundamental concept in calculus, the theory of differentiation will be explored. Students will learn the meaning behind differentiation, first principles and several basic rules of differentiation. Students will also be given the opportunity to apply these basic rules of differentiation to various business problems.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Learning the theory behind differentiation, and differentiation by first principles.
- Understanding how to differentiate constants, polynomial, logarithmic and exponential functions.
Workshop duration - 1.5 hours
Assumed knowledge – Algebra, Equations and Inequalities, Business Applications of Algebra, Exponentials and Logarithms and Differentiation 1
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020, BUSS1040
Relevant postgraduate units of study – QBUS5001, FINC2011, FINC5001, ECON5040
This is an intermediate level differentiation workshop and is intended for students who already have a grasp of basic differential calculus. Harder concepts such as the product, quotient and chain rules, as well as finding the minimum and maximum values of polynomial functions will be explored. Students will also learn about more challenging applications of calculus in business.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Learning and applying the product, quotient and chain rules in differentiation.
- Understanding the process of finding maxima and minima using differentiation.
- Applying differentiation principles in a business context to maximise or minimise values.
Workshop duration - 2 hours
Assumed knowledge – Algebra, Equations and Inequalities and Business Applications of Algebra
Relevant units of study – More advanced (2nd and 3rd year) Finance, Business Analytics, Economics and Econometrics units.
Matrix algebra is a useful mathematical concept for students undertaking more advanced units of study in the disciplines of Finance, Business Analytics, Economics and Econometrics, especially units that require programming skills. This beginner-intermediate level workshop will introduce students to a variety of concepts in matrix algebra, including the use of fundamental operations and different types of matrices. This workshop will familiarise students with the use of matrices in solving simple algebraic problems in a business context.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Understanding terminology and notation related to matrix algebra.
- Understanding and applying matrix addition, subtraction, multiplication and transposition.
- Understanding different types of matrices and how they are used.
- Applying matrices to solve business problems.
- Being able to apply matrices calculations in Excel.
Workshop duration – 2 hours
Assumed knowledge – None
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020, QBUS1040, FIN2011, QBUS3820
Relevant postgraduate units of study – QBUS5001, BUSS6002, MKTG6010, MKTG6998
This beginner’s level workshop is designed to equip business school students with essential Python programming skills. Students will explore fundamental topics such as data types, control structures, and functions. The workshop also includes an introduction to Pandas, a Python library widely used for data manipulation and analysis. Students will learn how to efficiently read datasets and conduct exploratory data analysis (EDA) to extract meaningful insights from real-world data.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Learning to navigate a code editor
- Understanding fundamental Python programming language syntax
- Learning the arithmetic, relational, and logical operators
- Learning how to create functions and conditional statements
- Learning how to read dataset and conduct exploratory data analysis.
Assumed knowledge – Algebra, Equations and Inequalities
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020, BUSS1040, FINC2011
Relevant postgraduate units of study – QBUS5001, QBUS5002, FINC5001
This beginner’s level workshop will cover fundamental probability concepts that Business School students will encounter during their studies. The workshop will cover basic probability principles, as well as rules related to mutually exclusive events, non-mutually exclusive events, independent events and conditional probability. Students will be given the opportunity to apply these concepts in solving questions in a business context.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Understanding terminology related to probability.
- Learning to calculate the probability of mutually exclusive and independent events.
- Understanding and calculating conditional probabilities.
Workshop duration - 1 hour
Assumed knowledge – None
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020
Relevant postgraduate units of study – QBUS5001, QBUS5002
This beginner-intermediate level workshop will introduce you to permutations and combinations. They are useful mathematical concepts to know if you are undertaking various quantitative majors such as Business Analytics. You will learn the different formulas used for permutations with and without replacement and combination and have the opportunity to apply these formulas to various business problems.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Understanding the difference between permutations and combinations.
- Applying permutations and combinations to solve various problems.
Workshop duration - 1.5 hour
Assumed knowledge – Algebra, Equations and Inequalities, and Probability
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020, BUSS1040, FINC2011, FIN2012, more advanced (second and third year) finance units
Relevant postgraduate units of study – QBUS5001, QBUS5002, FINC5001
This is an intermediate level workshop intended for students who already have a grasp of basic probability concepts. You will learn how mathematical probability concepts are used in a business context, such as the calculation of expected returns, as well as special techniques such as probability trees and joint probability tables, to solve business problems. This workshop will also introduce you to Bayes' Theorem in the context of conditional probability and give you the opportunity to apply this to real-world problems.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Using probability trees to assist managerial decision making.
- Understanding the use of probability in business through the calculation of expected returns and forecasts.
- Applying probability concepts to interpret joint probability tables.
- Applying the conditional probability formula and Bayes Theorem formula to recalculate probabilities based upon conditions.
Prior to your attendance at this workshop, please update your excel software to the latest version to maximise your learning.
Workshop duration – 1.5 hour
Assumed knowledge – None
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020, BUSS1030, BUSS1040, FINC2011
Relevant postgraduate units of study – QBUS5001, QBUS5002, ACCT5001, FINC5001
This beginner-level workshop is designed for students who have little to no prior experience using Excel. You will learn the fundamentals of Excel, including how to calculate and tabulate data, create formulas using functions, and perform simple data analysis. The workshop will also introduce the importance of relative and absolute cell references and how to use them to create dynamic formulas.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Understanding what is Excel.
- Learning to use Excel to calculate and tabulate data.
- Learning how to create formula using functions.
- Learning the difference between relative and absolute cell references.
- Learning how to perform simple data analysis in Excel.
Prior to your attendance at this workshop, please update your excel software to the latest version to maximise your learning.
Workshop duration - 2 hours
Assumed knowledge – Basic Excel knowledge
Relevant undergraduate units of study – BUSS1020, BUSS1030, BUSS1040, FINC2011
Relevant postgraduate units of study – QBUS5001, QBUS5002, ACCT5001, FINC5001
This intermediate-advanced level workshop covers various excel concepts that are relevant to your studies in the Business School as well as, within industry. You will learn an array of advanced excel functions including RANK, XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, descriptive statistics, simple linear regression and sensitivity analysis. The workshop will also cover graphing, with a focus on how to create professional bivariate graphs. The workshop starts by briefly reviewing important basic Excel functions and using the $ sign to fixate specific cells before progressing to the more advanced concepts.
The learning outcomes for this workshop include:
- Understanding how to apply the XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, INDEX and MATCH functions in searching for data.
- Learning to graph two data sets on a single plot.
- Learning how to generate descriptive statistics through Excel’s Data Analysis Tool pack.
- Learning how to run a simple linear regression in Excel.
- Learning how to perform one-dimensional and two-dimensional sensitivity analyses.
Last updated: 26 November 2024
