You can review the presentations, demos and other resources used during workshops on Canvas anytime.
The Maths in Business program helps you gain a firm understanding of maths, which most foundational units of your course require. This is also essential to senior units in accounting, business analytics and finance.
The workshops are offered on campus and online.
All students at the University of Sydney Business School can join workshops for free.
Maths workshops are offered in a variety of areas, giving you the opportunity to:
Materials are structured to strengthen your basic knowledge of algebra before progressing to calculus and probability, after which you can refine your Excel skills.
Our workshops are offered according to the relevant unit of study and cover beginner and intermediate levels.
The following list explains the topic areas covered in each workshop and whether any assumed knowledge is needed.
2 hours
None
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.
2 hours
Algebra, equations and inequalities
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.
Prior to your attendance at this workshop, please update your excel software to the latest version to maximise your learning.
2 hours
Basic Excel knowledge
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.
1.5 hours
Algebra, equations and inequalities
Probability
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.
2 hours
Algebra, equations and inequalities and Business Applications of Algebra, Exponentials and Logarithms
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.
1.5 hours
Algebra, equations and inequalities, Business applications of algebra, Exponentials and logarithms and Differentiation 1
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.
Prior to your attendance at this workshop, please update your Excel software to the latest version to maximise your learning.
1.5 hours
None
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.
2 hours
Algebra, equations and inequalities and Business applications of algebra
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.
1 hour
None
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.
2 hours
Algebra, equations and inequalities
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.
2 hours
None
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.
When you register for a workshop, select your topic of interest or one that’s relevant to your course.
Maths in Business workshops are one-off and not reoccurring. The workshops under the same topic area are repeats of each other to ensure that all students can attend.
This means that you will only need to attend one workshop under each topic area. For example, if you attend the Excel Fundamentals in Week 2, you don't need to attend this workshop again in Weeks 3–6 as these would be repeats of the same workshop.
Information collected for Maths in Business is kept strictly confidential and is not shared with anyone outside of Maths in Business management.
Information collected from you is used for the purposes of registration as well as for statistical analysis at the end of the semester, in which all participants are kept anonymous. This analysis is important for assessing the program's effectiveness and to make improvements in the future.
If you are uncomfortable with the use of your information for any of these purposes, please email the project coordinator at jessica.morr@sydney.edu.au and your information will not be included.
For further help on relevant mathematical topics, look at the following maths skills help-sheets.
Reach out to our team: Jessica Morr (Project Manager) or Ada Choi, Yuning Zhang, Eda Zhou and Jasmine Meyabadi (Tutors)
