A free, four-session refresher on the maths behind quantitative social science, from functions and logarithms to matrices, derivatives and probability. Written and taught by Marta Antonetti at the London School of Economics (2026 edition).
No maths beyond school level assumed. It pairs with my R bootcamp: Session 4 calls back to a variance example students first compute in R.
| Topic | Slides | Exercises | Cheat sheet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The basics, functions and logarithms | view | ||
| 2 | Vectors, matrices and limits | view | ||
| 3 | Derivatives, optimisation and integrals | view | ||
| 4 | Counting, probability and random variables | view |
The slides open in your browser. Use the arrow keys to move, F for full screen, Esc for an overview of all slides. Each deck is a single self-contained file, so you can also download it and open it offline.
Work through the sessions in order: each builds on the last.
The exercise sheets here are the student versions, without worked answers, so that solutions don’t circulate among future cohorts. If you’re an instructor or self-learner and would like the solutions, email me at m.antonetti@lse.ac.uk.
© 2026 Marta Antonetti. This material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): you’re free to use, share and adapt it, including for your own teaching, as long as you credit the author.