MST 0401 Mathematics and Quantitative Methods

Course description for MST 0401 Mathematics and Quantitative Methods, a core course in mathematics and statistics for Master in Business. It covers differential and integral calculus, optimisation in several variables, the central limit theorem and statistical interference.
Course responsibles: Eivind Eriksen (mathematics), Steffen Grønneberg (statistics).
This course will run for the first time in the Autumn 2026 semester.

Reading material

[E] Eriksen, Graduate Mathematics for Business, Economics and Finance, Cappelen Damm 2021 - List of corrections
[EP] Eriksen, Graduate Mathematics for Business, Economics and Finance - Problems and solutions, Cappelen Damm 2021 - List of corrections

Exams

A midterm exam (3d school exam, counts for 30%) that covers statistics.
A final exam (5h school exam, counts for 70%) that covers mathematics.

Lecture plan Autumn 2026

Lecturers: Eivind Eriksen (mathematics), Steffen Grønneberg (statistics)
Lectures: A 3h lecture and a 2h problem session per week (with some exceptions, see the lecture plan below).
Office hours: TBA

Statistics	Lecturer Steffen Grønneberg (Office B3-082)	Reading:	Exercises:
Mon Aug 17: 14-16 C1-010	Lecture 1: Statistics
Fri Aug 21: 10-11 C1-020	Lecture 2: Statistics		Problem session: 11-13 C1-020
Mon Aug 24: 14-16 C1-010	Lecture 3: Statistics
Fri Aug 28: 10-11 C1-020	Lecture 4: Statistics		Problem session: 11-13 C1-020
Mon Aug 31: 14-16 C1-010	Lecture 5: Statistics
Fri Sep 04: 10-11 C1-020	Lecture 6: Statistics		Problem session: 11-13 C1-020
Mon Sep 07: 14-16 C1-010	Lecture 7: Statistics
Fri Sep 11: 10-11 C1-020	Lecture 8: Statistics		Problem session: 11-13 C1-020

Mathematics	Lecturer Eivind Eriksen (Office B3y-085)	Reading:	Exercises:
Tue Sep 15: 14-17, C1-020	Lecture 1: Calculus and optimization. Capital growth criterion.	[E] 0.1 - 0.8	Problem set 1
Fri Sep 18: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 2: Solving linear systems. Rank. Parametrizations.	[E] 1.1 - 1.6	Problem set 2: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Sep 25: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 3: Matrices. Determinants and minors.	[E] 3.1 - 3.4	Problem set 3: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Oct 02: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 4: Eigenvalues. Diagonalization.	[E] 4.1 - 4.3	Problem set 4: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Oct 09: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 5: Definiteness of quadratic forms. Principal minors.	[E] 4.5 - 4.6	Problem set 5: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Oct 16: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 6: Unconstrained Optimization. Convexity.	[E] 5.1 - 5.6	Problem set 6: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Oct 23: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 7: Constrained Optimization. Lagrange problems.	[E] 6.1 - 6.4	Problem set 7: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Oct 30: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 8: Kuhn-Tucker problems.	[E] 6.5	Problem set 8: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Nov 06: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 9: Envelope theorems. More examples.	[E] 5.7, 6.6	Problem set 9: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Nov 13: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 10: Applications. Minimal variance portfolios.	[E] 6.7	Problem set 10: 14-17 in D3-020/030
Fri Nov 20: 10-13, C1-020	Lecture 11: Revision. Exam problems.		Problem set 11: 14-17 in D3-020/030

Mon Sep 28: 9-12	Midterm exam MST04011 (statistics, 30%)
Mon Nov 23: 09-14	Final exam MST04012 (mathematics, 70%)