Simon & Blume - - good enough?

[DismalScientist]

I am in the middle of math review before I start the econ Ph.D. program this fall and I am using Simon & Blume as a general guide and I was just wondering how reliable you guys think this book is (or have found it to be) as far as preparing for the first year courses. Are there any important topics this book does not cover that you guys feel one must cover before emarking on the phd program?

~DismalScientist

[Golden Rule]

S+B is fine for review of multivar calc, linear algebra, it's a little weak on real analysis and optimization. It has nothing on correspondences or seperating hyperplane thms. which end up being relevant for micro. It has nothing on the functional analysis and other approaches that you need for macro.

So I think is S+B is great for preparing yourself for math camp, but not for the first year. You should then study beyond the level of S+B with the support of your math camp.

The math appendix of MWG is a good guide for what you need to know for micro, but you might be better off learning from the related portions of books like De La Fuente, Sundaram, or other books that have been mentioned elsewhere on this forum, which might provide more examples/intuition. Most of the macro math I picked up along the way during the course, and maybe your math camp will cover it, but mine didn't. Good luck.

[asquare]

I agree with Golden Rule. S and B mostly contains material you should be familiar with before starting a PhD, but it does not contain all the material you will need to get through the first year.* It does not cover dynamic programing at all, and, as GR said, has little real analysis. You won't learn the techniques for writing proofs in S and B.

However, I think S and B is sufficient for a review before math camp. It is not necessary to teach yourself the entire first year curriculum before starting your PhD! If you are comfortable with the material in S and B, you will be prepared to keep up with math camp and learn new material as it is presented. (If you have never had real analysis or introduction to proofs, you might look through a book that will at least introduce you to mathematical logic and notation. The Art and Craft of Writing Proofs, or something like that, is useful).

* Disclaimer: this advice probably differs from school to school, and tier to tier. I'd guess it is relevant for the top 20 or thereabouts; I don't really know for schools ranked a lot below that.

[DismalScientist]

Golden Rule and Asquare, thanks for the advice. Yes, I just wanted to make sure S & B was good enough to get me ready for the math camp (review) and to use as a general guide as I refresh the math that I haven't used in a year or so.

Thanks again for your inputs.

~DismalScientist

[ptm]

Duke is using Simon & Blume for math camp.

[Dannyb19]

So is Hopkins. They also suggest reviewing the first 2 chapters of A.K. Dixit's Optimization Text, and the Casella and Berger Statistics book.

[Tragically Hip]

asquare,

The book you referred to, do you mean "Art and Craft of Problem Solving by Zeitz"?

[asquare]

Originally Posted by Tragically Hip

asquare,

The book you referred to, do you mean "Art and Craft of Problem Solving by Zeitz"?

Yes, that sounds right. It's a kind of a short book; the hard cover edition has a mostly black cover with some blue and white I think (I lent my copy to someone, so I don't have it here to check).

[rdblots]

Dismal-

At VT, they use Simon and Blume for the Mathematical Economics course the fall semester. And they try (at least for micro and macro) to time the material so as to not give you any problem sets dealing with math not yet covered in the math course. Hope that helps.