A First Course in Quantitative Finance

Description

This new and exciting book offers a fresh approach to quantitative finance and utilises novel features, including stereoscopic images which permit 3D visualisation of complex subjects without the need for additional tools. Offering an integrated approach to the subject, A First Course in Quantitative Finance introduces students to the architecture of complete financial markets before exploring the concepts and models of modern portfolio theory, derivative pricing and fixed income products in both complete and incomplete market settings. Subjects are organised throughout in a way that encourages a gradual and parallel learning process of both the economic concepts and their mathematical descriptions, framed by additional perspectives from classical utility theory, financial economics and behavioural finance. Suitable for postgraduate students studying courses in quantitative finance, financial engineering and financial econometrics as part of an economics, finance, econometric or mathematics program, this book contains all necessary theoretical and mathematical concepts and numerical methods, as well as the necessary programming code for porting algorithms onto a computer.

Thomas Mazzoni has lectured at the University of Hagen and the Dortmund Business School and is now based at the Universitat Greifswald, Germany, where he received the 2014 award for excellence in teaching and outstanding dedication.

'A First Course in Quantitative Finance is a gentle introduction in a complicated subject. It covers most important topics - such as portfolio optimisation, derivative pricing, and fixed income products - and discusses them from the perspective of financial economics and financial mathematics. It provides the necessary mathematical background, contains the financial discussion, and is full of illustrative examples. It will be useful for anyone who wants to study the subject area on an advanced level.' Rudiger Kiesel, Universitat Duisburg-Essen 'This is a remarkably complete book on all aspects of modern finance, covering topics from the puzzles of financial economics, through modern portfolio management to the pricing of exotic options under stochastic volatility at an equally accessible yet state-of-the-art level. Quants, portfolio managers, students and teachers of finance alike will find it to be an invaluable source of insights and a must-have reference to have on their desks.' Peter Tankov, Ecole nationale de la statistique et de l'administration economique