MATH 194: INTRODUCTION TO THE MATHEMATICS OF FINANCE (WINTER 2009)

Professor: Professor R. J. Williams, Office: AP&M 6121.
Professor's Office Hours (during the 10 weeks of lectures): TBA.
Lecture Time: TBA
Lecture Place: TBA

Section Times: TBA
Section Place: TBA

Teaching Assistant: TBA
TA Office Hours: TBA

DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to the mathematics of financial models. The aim is to provide students with an introduction to some basic probabilistic models of finance and associated mathematical machinery. The emphasis will be on discrete time models where concepts can be developed without measure theory. (The graduate course, Math 294, which has a similar title, is at a more advanced level and has much more emphasis on continuous time models which use measure theory.)

PREREQUISITES: Math 20D, Math 20F, and Math 180A or Math 183.

TEXT: No specific text is required. Some summary notes will be provided to accompany the course.
To access the notes, click here (you will need a password to access this site -- this will be given in class).
Students may also find it helpful to consult the text M. Capinski and T. Zastawniak, Mathematics for Finance, Springer, 2003. The book by Hull indicated below provides a useful compendium on details of different financial derivatives.

OTHER REFERENCES:
J. Hull, Options, Futures and other Derivative Securities, Prentice Hall, Fourth Edition, 2000.
S. Ross, An Introduction to Mathematical Finance, Options and other topics, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
J. Stampfli and V. Goodman, The Mathematics of Finance: Modeling and Hedging, Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA, 2001.
P. Wilmott et al., The Mathematics of Financial Derivatives, Cambridge University Press, 1995.

LINKS TO RELATED WEB SITES

HOMEWORK: Click here to go to the homework.

EXAMS: There will be one midterm and a final exam.

Please direct any questions to Professor Ruth J. Williams, email: williams at math dot ucsd dot edu


Last updated May 26, 2008.