2BTL101 NOTES

Notes from:

 Croucher J.S (2013) Introductory Mathematics and Statistics for Business, 6th Edition, McGroll Hill
 Bradely. T (2013) Essential Mathematics for Economics and Business, 4th Edition, John Wiley and
Sons Ltd

Week 1: Basic Mathematics

Whole Numbers

Natural numbers /numerals (0,1,2,3……) are numbers usually used to count whole objects rather
than some fraction of them. Natural numbers are referred to as whole numbers or integers.
An integer that is greater than zero (i.e. 1,2,3….) is a positive integer, while on that is less than zero
(-1,-2,-3…) is a negative integer.

Basic Mathematical operations

1. Multiplication: often represented by × (example: multiply a and b: a×b or ab or a.b)

a
2. Division: often represented by ÷ or / (example: divide a by b: a÷b or or a/b)
b
3. Addition: often represented by + (example: add a and b: a+b)
4. Subtraction: often represented by – (example: subtract a from b: b-a)

The order in which the operations to be performed

1. Multiplication and division

2. Addition and subtraction

Multiplication

The answer to a multiplication is called a product.

If two numbers are multiplied have the same sign their product will be positive. If the two numbers
have different signs, their product is negative.

An important property is its symmetry, that is, 5 × 6 is the same as 6 × 5

Division

The answer to a division is called a quotient.

Division does not have symmetry, that is, 10/2 is not the same as 2/10.

Also, if the signs of two numbers divided are the same the quotient will be positive. If the two
numbers have different signs, the quotient is negative.

Addition

The answer is called a sum. It has symmetry, that is 3 + 4 is the same as 4 + 3

Subtraction

The answer is called difference.

It does not have symmetry, that is 8 – 3= 5 is not the same as 3-8= -5

Fractions

a
A fraction appears in the form of or a/b
b
numerator
A fraction =
denomiantor
The denominator cannot be zero, otherwise the result is undefined or infinite. If the numerator is
zero then the result is zero.

A proper fraction is one in which the numerator is less than the denominator, for example 5/13, 2/7.
An improper fraction has its numerator greater than the denominator, for example 20/3, 10/7.

The reciprocal of a fraction is that fraction in which the numerator and denominator is
interchanged, i.e. the fraction in turned ‘upside down’.

Addition of fractions

For fractions with the same denominator, add the numerators together to obtain the new
numerator. The denominator remains the same.

For those with different denominators, we must change the fractions into those with identical
denominators. The identical denominator is called lowest common denominator (LCD). That is the
smallest number into which the denominator can all divide. This smallest number itself is called the
lowest common multiple (LCM).

The method of finding the LCM of a set of numbers uses their prime factors. A prime number is a
whole number(integer) that is divisible by only 1 and itself.

To find the LCM, follow the steps:

i. Factorize each number in the set into its prime factors

ii. Using only the highest power of each prime factors, find their product to get the LCM.

Same process for subtraction of fractions, only change the signs

Multiplication of fractions

To multiply, the numerators are multiplied to get a new numerators and the denominators as well,
to get new denominators. Simplify the answer as much as possible, even before multiplying.

Division of fractions

Dividing by a fraction is the same as multiplying by that fraction inverted. That is, to divide one
fraction by another fraction, invert (i.e. turn upside down) the second fraction and multiply.
Decimals

Our number system is based on the number 10, it is therefore possible to express any fraction as a
decimal. A decimal is a fraction in which the numerator has been divided by the denominator to
yield an equivalent decimal expression. Decimals are used in currency and metric measurements.

A decimal is made up of an integer followed by a decimal point and followed by another integer.

If a number is expressed in decimal form, zeros before the first digit after the decimal point
influences the number’s value.

Position of digit after decimal Value Name

point
First 0.1 Tenth
Second 0.01 Hundredth
Third 0.001 Thousandth
Fourth 0.000 1 Ten-thousandth
Fifth 0.000 01 Hundred-thousandth
Sixth 0.000 001 Millionth

Any zeros right hand after the decimal point and after the last digit does not change the number
value. For example, 0.5, 0.500 and 0.50000 all represent the same number.

Addition and subtraction of decimals

Align the numbers so the decimal points are directly under each other, then add/subtract. You may
fill the empty spaces with zeros.

Multiplication of decimals

1. Count the number of digits after the decimal point for each number.
2. Add the number of digits found and obtain a number, say x
3. Multiply the two numbers, ignoring the decimal points
4. In the answer, mark the decimal point so that there are x digits to the right of the decimal
point (after the decimal point).

Division of decimals

1. Count the number of digits that are in the divisor, to the right of the decimal point (after the
decimal point). Call this number y
2. Move the decimal point in the dividend y places to the right (add zero if necessary). Do the
same for the divisor
3. Divide the transformed dividend by the transformed divisor (which now has no decimal
point). The quotient of the division is the answer.

Exponents

An exponent (power or index) is a number that is written as a superscript to another number called
a base. It tells how many times the base is multiplied by itself. The position of the superscript is to
the right and a little above the base.

Positive exponents
Suppose two numbers with the same base are expressed in exponential form:

1. The product of those two numbers with the same base will result in a number with the
original base and an exponent equal to the sum of the two original exponents. That is;
n m n +m
a × a =a (1.1)

2. The quotient of the two numbers with the same base is expressed as an exponent equal to
the difference between the original exponents but with the original base. That is;
n m n−m
a ÷ a =a (1.2)

3. If a number is already expressed in exponential form is itself raise to another exponent, the
result is a number with the original base and an exponent equal to the product of the two
exponents. That is;
m
( a n ) =anm (1.3)

Negative Exponents

A number expressed in exponential form with a negative exponent is equal to the reciprocal of the
same number with the negative sign removed from the exponent. That is;

−n 1
a = n (1.4)
a
Fractional exponents

The definition of an exponent ( a n ) can be extended to include situations in which n is a fraction. In

1 1
particular if n is in the form (where k is an integer), a k is said to be the ‘kth root of a’. The kth root
k
of a number is one such that when it is multiplies by itself k times you get that number. That is;
1
a k =√k a (1.5)

m
a n =( √n a )
m
(1.6)

Zero Exponents

Under our definition, a 0 has no meaning . However, using Equation 1.2:

n
a n−n
n
=a =a
a
This is true for all values of n. Therefore,
0
a =1 (1.7)

Scientific Notation

Scientific notation is a short hand way of writing either large or very small numbers. The procedure
for expressing a number in scientific notation involves the reference position of the decimal point.

The reference position for the decimal point in a number N is immediately to the right of the first
non-zero digit in N.
The rule for writing a number N in scientific notation is N ' × 10c

Where
'
N= the digit before the reference position, followed by the decimal point and the remaining
digits in number N

c= the number of digits between the reference position and the decimal point.

*If the decimal point is to the right of the reference position, the value is of c positive

*If the decimal point is to the left of the reference position, the value of c is negative

= If the number is an integer, the value of c is the number of digits after the reference
position.

Logarithms

The logarithm of a number N to a base b is the power to which b must be raised to obtain N. The
notation is:

log b N

That is: if x=log b N then N=b x

Typically, bases are the number 10 and the special number e (which stand for exponential)
logarithms to the base of e are called natural logarithms or Napierian logarithms.

For example, writing the logarithm of the following to base 10,

1. 10 2. 1000
101 =10, so log1010 = 1 103=1000, so log101000 = 3

For negative exponents, that same rule applies.

For example:

Write the logarithm of:

1. 0.1 2. 0.001
10-1= 0.1, so log10 0.1=-1 10-3 = 0.001, so log100.001 = -3

One can take the logarithm of a number to any base. Therefore, if the base is not stated, assume
base 10.

Logarithms of numbers greater than zero but less than 1 are negative, the logarithm of 1 itself is zero
and logarithms of numbers greater than 1 are positive. The logarithms of negative numbers are zero
or undefined.

Characteristic and mantissa

Suppose that the logarithm of a positive number is expressed as an integer plus a non-negative
decimal fraction. Then:
  The integer is called the characteristic of the logarithm
 The decimal fraction is called the mantissa of the logarithm

The characteristic of the common logarithm of a positive number N is numerically equal to the
number of digits between the reference position and the decimal point in N

If the decimal point is to the right of the reference position, the characteristic is positive. If the
decimal point is to the left of the reference position, the characteristic is negative.

Note that if the number is an integer, the characteristic is equal to one less than the number of
digits in the number.

To find the mantissa of a common logarithm of a number we must the appropriate tables.

However, the following properties of logarithms hold for any two positive numbers A and B and for
any base:

log ( A × B ) =log A +log B (1.8)

log ( A ÷ B )=log A−log B (1.9)

n
log A =n × log A (1.10)

Practice questions
1. Solve without the use of a calculator

1
2 log 3+3 log 2− log 81+3 log 5
2
2. Evaluate
a. 28 ×2−3 ×2−1
2 −2
b. ( 5−1) ×5 4 × ( 52 )

3. Evaluate as fractions to the lowest terms

a.
35 2 5 5
9
× − ÷(
3 8 3 )
24 18 3
b. ÷ ×
11 8 4
3
c. 21−36 × + 17−
5
1
5 ( )
 1 3
4. To make 1 cup of porridge, you need cup of millies and cup of water.
4 4
a. How much millies and water is required to make 5 cups of porridge
b. If you have 6 cups of millies and 15 cups of water, how many cups of porridge can you
make