50277 - QUANTITATIVE METHODS

Basic notions about differential and integral calculus are reccommended. Also basics knowwledge on matrices calculus is suggested.

The course presents a set of mathematical, statistical and probabilistic tools necessary both for the educational path and for the subsequent professional path of a graduate in law. These theoretical tools are accompanied and deepened through the presentation of numerous applications of an economic, business, legal and financial nature, in order to highlight the real and concrete information capacity of these tools. The contextual synergy of the two parts, theoretical and applicative, allows to enhance the use of the quantitative tool within any decision-making process.

• One variable and two variables Differential Calculus.
• Integral Calculus.
• Financial Calculus.
• Descriptive Statistics.
• Probability Theory.
• Decision Theory.

At the end of the course, the student will be able to

• List the fundamental principles of both differental calculus and integral calculus.
• Illustrate the key notions of financial calculus and recognize how they may be used in some typical evaluation problems.
• Describe some basic methods to elaborate  statistical data.
• Define the main notions and rules on probability theory and calculus.
• Explain how to face a decision problem in a uncertain framework.

At the end of the course, the student will be able to

• Apply the rules of differential and integral calculus to solve some basic problems relevant in Micro and Macro Economics.
• Compute profitability indices for basic fixed income bonds and investment opportunities.
• Draw up an amortization plan of a loan to be redempted.
• Analyze statistical frequency distributions and compute some statistics such as mode, median and mean values.
• Use the notion of random number to face decision problems under uncertainty.

• Face-to-face lectures

Traditional whiteboard lessons with slide support projected into the classroom.

The written exams, both partial and general, consist of:

1. One set of closed answer questions aimed to assess the knowledge and the comprehension of the theoretical concepts and notions taught during the course.
2. One set of open answer exercises. Each exercise is organized in multiple questions arranged in increasing difficulty order.  The open answer exercises aim to assess the students ability to formalize, to analyze and to solve problems. The increasing difficulty of the questions allows to graduate the skills achieved by the student.

Each partial written exam is worth the 50% of the final grade.

The general written exam is worth the 100% of the final grade.

The teaching materials are communicated and uploaded on the Bboard platform at the beginning of the course.