This textbook contains the fundamentals for an undergraduate course in mathematical finance aimed primarily at students of mathematics. Assuming only a basic knowledge of probability and calculus, the material is presented in a mathematically rigorous and complete way. The book covers the time value of money, including the time structure of interest rates, bonds and stock valuation; derivative securities (futures, options), modelling in discrete time, pricing and hedging, and many other core topics. With numerous examples, problems and exercises, this book is ideally suited for independent study.

The modern subject of mathematical finance has undergone considerable development, both in theory and practice, since the seminal work of Black and Scholes appeared a third of a century ago. This book is intended as an introduction to some elements of the theory that will enable students and researchers to go on to read more advanced texts and research papers. The book begins with the development of the basic ideas of hedging and pricing of European and American derivatives in the discrete (i.e., discrete time and discrete state) setting of binomial tree models. Then a general discrete finite market model is introduced, and the fundamental theorems of asset pricing are proved in this setting. Tools from probability such as conditional expectation, filtration, (super)martingale, equivalent martingale measure, and martingale representation are all used first in this simple discrete framework. This provides a bridge to the continuous (time and state) setting, which requires the additional concepts of Brownian motion and stochastic calculus. The simplest model in the continuous setting is the famous Black-Scholes model, for which pricing and hedging of European and American derivatives are developed. The book concludes with a description of the fundamental theorems for a continuous market model that generalizes the simple Black-Scholes model in several directions.

A user-friendly presentation of the essential concepts and tools for calculating real costs and profits in personal finance Understanding the Mathematics of Personal Finance explains how mathematics, a simple calculator, and basic computer spreadsheets can be used to break down and understand even the most complex loan structures. In an easy-to-follow style, the book clearly explains the workings of basic financial calculations, captures the concepts behind loans and interest in a step-by-step manner, and details how these steps can be implemented for practical purposes. Rather than simply providing investment and borrowing strategies, the author successfully equips readers with the skills needed to make accurate and effective decisions in all aspects of personal finance ventures, including mortgages, annuities, life insurance, and credit card debt. The book begins with a primer on mathematics, covering the basics of arithmetic operations and notations, and proceeds to explore the concepts of interest, simple interest, and compound interest. Subsequent chapters illustrate the application of these concepts to common types of personal finance exchanges, including: Loan amortization and savings Mortgages, reverse mortgages, and viatical settlements Prepayment penalties Credit cards The book provides readers with the tools needed to calculate real costs and profits using various financial instruments. Mathematically inclined readers will enjoy the inclusion of mathematical derivations, but these sections are visually distinct from the text and can be skipped without the loss of content or complete understanding of the material. In addition, references to online calculators and instructions for building the calculations involved in a spreadsheet are provided. Furthermore, a related Web site features additional problem sets, the spreadsheet calculators that are referenced and used throughout the book, and links to various other financial calculators. Understanding the Mathematics of Personal Finance is an excellent book for finance courses at the undergraduate level. It is also an essential reference for individuals who are interested in learning how to make effective financial decisions in their everyday lives.

Most branches of science involving random fluctuations can be approached by Stochastic Calculus. These include, but are not limited to, signal processing, noise filtering, stochastic control, optimal stopping, electrical circuits, financial markets, molecular chemistry, population dynamics, etc. All these applications assume a strong mathematical background, which in general takes a long time to develop. Stochastic Calculus is not an easy to grasp theory, and in general, requires acquaintance with the probability, analysis and measure theory.The goal of this book is to present Stochastic Calculus at an introductory level and not at its maximum mathematical detail. The author's goal was to capture as much as possible the spirit of elementary deterministic Calculus, at which students have been already exposed. This assumes a presentation that mimics similar properties of deterministic Calculus, which facilitates understanding of more complicated topics of Stochastic Calculus.The second edition contains several new features that improved the first edition both qualitatively and quantitatively. First, two more chapters have been added, Chapter 12 and Chapter 13, dealing with applications of stochastic processes in Electrochemistry and global optimization methods.This edition contains also a final chapter material containing fully solved review problems and provides solutions, or at least valuable hints, to all proposed problems. The present edition contains a total of about 250 exercises.This edition has also improved presentation from the first edition in several chapters, including new material.

Taking continuous-time stochastic processes allowing for jumps as its starting and focal point, this book provides an accessible introduction to the stochastic calculus and control of semimartingales and explains the basic concepts of Mathematical Finance such as arbitrage theory, hedging, valuation principles, portfolio choice, and term structure modelling. It bridges thegap between introductory texts and the advanced literature in the field. Most textbooks on the subject are limited to diffusion-type models which cannot easily account for sudden price movements. Such abrupt changes, however, can often be observed in real markets. At the same time, purely discontinuous processes lead to a much wider variety of flexible and tractable models. This explains why processes with jumps have become an established tool in the statistics and mathematics of finance. Graduate students, researchers as well as practitioners will benefit from this monograph.

This book discusses the interplay of stochastics (applied probability theory) and numerical analysis in the field of quantitative finance. The stochastic models, numerical valuation techniques, computational aspects, financial products, and risk management applications presented will enable readers to progress in the challenging field of computational finance.When the behavior of financial market participants changes, the corresponding stochastic mathematical models describing the prices may also change. Financial regulation may play a role in such changes too. The book thus presents several models for stock prices, interest rates as well as foreign-exchange rates, with increasing complexity across the chapters. As is said in the industry, 'do not fall in love with your favorite model.' The book covers equity models before moving to short-rate and other interest rate models. We cast these models for interest rate into the Heath-Jarrow-Morton framework, show relations between the different models, and explain a few interest rate products and their pricing.The chapters are accompanied by exercises. Students can access solutions to selected exercises, while complete solutions are made available to instructors. The MATLAB and Python computer codes used for most tables and figures in the book are made available for both print and e-book users. This book will be useful for people working in the financial industry, for those aiming to work there one day, and for anyone interested in quantitative finance. The topics that are discussed are relevant for MSc and PhD students, academic researchers, and for quants in the financial industry.

This monograph is a sequel to Brownian Motion and Stochastic Calculus by the same authors. Within the context of Brownian-motion- driven asset prices, it develops contingent claim pricing and optimal consumption/investment in both complete and incomplete markets. The latter topic is extended to a study of equilibrium, providing conditions for the existence and uniqueness of market prices which support trading by several heterogeneous agents. Although much of the incomplete-market material is available in research papers, these topics are treated for the first time in a unified manner. The book contains an extensive set of references and notes describing the field, including topics not treated in the text. This monograph should be of interest to researchers wishing to see advanced mathematics applied to finance. The material on optimal consumption and investment, leading to equilibrium, is addressed to the theoretical finance community. The chapters on contingent claim valuation present techniques of practical importance, especially for pricing exotic options. Also available by Ioannis Karatzas and Steven E. Shreve, Brownian Motion and Stochastic Calculus, Second Edition, Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 1991, 470 pp., ISBN 0-387- 97655-8.

This book explores the mathematics that underpins pricing models for derivative securities such as options, futures and swaps in modern markets. Models built upon the famous Black-Scholes theory require sophisticated mathematical tools drawn from modern stochastic calculus. However, many of the underlying ideas can be explained more simply within a discrete-time framework. This is developed extensively in this substantially revised second edition to motivate the technically more demanding continuous-time theory.

The book begins with binomial stock price models, moves on to multistage models, then to the Cox-Ross-Rubinstein option pricing process, and then to the Black-Scholes formula. Other topics presented include Zero Coupon Bonds, forward rates, the yield curve, and several bond price models. The book continues with foreign exchange models and the Keynes Interest Rate Parity Formula, and concludes with the study of country risk, a topic not inappropriate for the times."--pub. desc.