Calculus for Business and Economics

Applying derivatives, optimization, and mathematical modeling to real business decisions.

Course Overview

Mathematics that powers business decisions.

MATH 1231 applied calculus to business and economic problems — bridging abstract mathematics with the quantitative tools used in finance, marketing, and operations. The course built a foundation in how rates of change and accumulation inform real-world decision making.

Core topics included derivatives, marginal revenue, marginal cost, marginal profit, optimization, antiderivatives, definite integrals, and business/economic applications. Through applied projects, I learned to model demand, analyze revenue and cost functions, and use calculus to find optimal pricing and production strategies.

Skills Learned

Core competencies from this course.

Business Calculus

Optimization

Derivative Applications

Marginal Revenue

Marginal Cost

Profit Maximization

Demand Modeling

Mathematical Modeling

Market Research

Featured Project

From survey data to optimal pricing.

Applied Project

Northeastern Hockey T-Shirt Sales Campaign

Designed and evaluated a Northeastern Hockey T-shirt sales campaign using market research, demand modeling, revenue analysis, cost analysis, and calculus-based optimization.

Project Highlights

Designed a hockey-themed Northeastern T-shirt product
Estimated reachable target market
Collected survey data from 50 participants
Built demand, revenue, cost, and profit functions
Found revenue-maximizing and profit-maximizing prices
Recommended a final selling price of $20

Key Metrics

Poll Participants

Revenue-Maximizing Price

$17.65

Profit-Maximizing Price

$20.39

Final Recommended Price

$20

Recommended Price

Project Design & Analysis

Turning survey data into a complete product and pricing strategy.

Optimization Result

Using demand, revenue, cost, and profit functions derived from survey data, the profit-maximizing price was calculated at $20.39, while the revenue-maximizing price was $17.65. After balancing profitability and practical consumer pricing considerations, a final recommended selling price of $20 was selected.

Presentation

Full project slideshow.

Scroll through the complete campaign presentation — from market research and demand modeling to optimization results and the final pricing recommendation.

Northeastern Hockey T-Shirt Sales Campaign

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Artifacts

Course deliverables and outputs.

Full PresentationOpen Presentation →

Demand Analysis

Optimization Graph

Pricing Recommendation

Key Takeaways

What I carried forward from this course.

Calculus can directly support pricing strategy

Derivatives and optimization techniques translated abstract math into a concrete $20 price recommendation grounded in demand and cost functions.

Market research improves mathematical models

Survey data from 50 participants gave the demand model real-world validity — without it, optimization would have been purely theoretical.

Profit optimization is different from revenue optimization

The revenue-maximizing price ($17.65) and profit-maximizing price ($20.39) diverged, reinforcing that maximizing sales volume is not the same as maximizing bottom-line returns.