This book puts numerical methods in action for the purpose of solving practical problems in quantitative finance. The first part develops a toolkit in numerical methods for finance. The second part proposes twenty self-contained cases covering model simulation, asset pricing and hedging, risk management, statistical estimation and model calibration. Each case develops a detailed solution to a concrete problem arising in applied financial management and guides the user towards a computer implementation. The appendices contain "crash courses" in VBA and Matlab programming languages.

From the reviews: "Paul Glasserman has written an astonishingly good book that bridges financial engineering and the Monte Carlo method. The book will appeal to graduate students, researchers, and most of all, practicing financial engineers [...] So often, financial engineering texts are very theoretical. This book is not." --Glyn Holton, Contingency Analysis

Teach Your Students How to Become Successful Working Quants Quantitative Finance: A Simulation-Based Introduction Using Excel provides an introduction to financial mathematics for students in applied mathematics, financial engineering, actuarial science, and business administration. The text not only enables students to practice with the basic techniques of financial mathematics, but it also helps them gain significant intuition about what the techniques mean, how they work, and what happens when they stop working. After introducing risk, return, decision making under uncertainty, and traditional discounted cash flow project analysis, the book covers mortgages, bonds, and annuities using a blend of Excel simulation and difference equation or algebraic formalism. It then looks at how interest rate markets work and how to model bond prices before addressing mean variance portfolio optimization, the capital asset pricing model, options, and value at risk (VaR). The author next focuses on binomial model tools for pricing options and the analysis of discrete random walks. He also introduces stochastic calculus in a nonrigorous way and explains how to simulate geometric Brownian motion. The text proceeds to thoroughly discuss options pricing, mostly in continuous time. It concludes with chapters on stochastic models of the yield curve and incomplete markets using simple discrete models. Accessible to students with a relatively modest level of mathematical background, this book will guide your students in becoming successful quants. It uses both hand calculations and Excel spreadsheets to analyze plenty of examples from simple bond portfolios. The spreadsheets are available on the book’s CRC Press web page.

Presents a multitude of topics relevant to the quantitative finance community by combining the best of the theory with the usefulness of applications Written by accomplished teachers and researchers in the field, this book presents quantitative finance theory through applications to specific practical problems and comes with accompanying coding techniques in R and MATLAB, and some generic pseudo-algorithms to modern finance. It also offers over 300 examples and exercises that are appropriate for the beginning student as well as the practitioner in the field. The Quantitative Finance book is divided into four parts. Part One begins by providing readers with the theoretical backdrop needed from probability and stochastic processes. We also present some useful finance concepts used throughout the book. In part two of the book we present the classical Black-Scholes-Merton model in a uniquely accessible and understandable way. Implied volatility as well as local volatility surfaces are also discussed. Next, solutions to Partial Differential Equations (PDE), wavelets and Fourier transforms are presented. Several methodologies for pricing options namely, tree methods, finite difference method and Monte Carlo simulation methods are also discussed. We conclude this part with a discussion on stochastic differential equations (SDE’s). In the third part of this book, several new and advanced models from current literature such as general Lvy processes, nonlinear PDE's for stochastic volatility models in a transaction fee market, PDE's in a jump-diffusion with stochastic volatility models and factor and copulas models are discussed. In part four of the book, we conclude with a solid presentation of the typical topics in fixed income securities and derivatives. We discuss models for pricing bonds market, marketable securities, credit default swaps (CDS) and securitizations. Classroom-tested over a three-year period with the input of students and experienced practitioners Emphasizes the volatility of financial analyses and interpretations Weaves theory with application throughout the book Utilizes R and MATLAB software programs Presents pseudo-algorithms for readers who do not have access to any particular programming system Supplemented with extensive author-maintained web site that includes helpful teaching hints, data sets, software programs, and additional content Quantitative Finance is an ideal textbook for upper-undergraduate and beginning graduate students in statistics, financial engineering, quantitative finance, and mathematical finance programs. It will also appeal to practitioners in the same fields.

Are you applying quantitative methods without a full understanding of how they really work? Bridging the gap between mathematical theory and financial practice, A Guide to Quantitative Finance provides you with all the tools and techniques to comprehend and implement the quantitative models adopted in the financial markets.

Mathematical finance has grown into a huge area of research which requires a large number of sophisticated mathematical tools. This book simultaneously introduces the financial methodology and the relevant mathematical tools in a style that is mathematically rigorous and yet accessible to practitioners and mathematicians alike. It interlaces financial concepts such as arbitrage opportunities, admissible strategies, contingent claims, option pricing and default risk with the mathematical theory of Brownian motion, diffusion processes, and Lévy processes. The first half of the book is devoted to continuous path processes whereas the second half deals with discontinuous processes. The extensive bibliography comprises a wealth of important references and the author index enables readers quickly to locate where the reference is cited within the book, making this volume an invaluable tool both for students and for those at the forefront of research and practice.

Presents a multitude of topics relevant to the quantitative finance community by combining the best of the theory with the usefulness of applications Written by accomplished teachers and researchers in the field, this book presents quantitative finance theory through applications to specific practical problems and comes with accompanying coding techniques in R and MATLAB, and some generic pseudo-algorithms to modern finance. It also offers over 300 examples and exercises that are appropriate for the beginning student as well as the practitioner in the field. The Quantitative Finance book is divided into four parts. Part One begins by providing readers with the theoretical backdrop needed from probability and stochastic processes. We also present some useful finance concepts used throughout the book. In part two of the book we present the classical Black-Scholes-Merton model in a uniquely accessible and understandable way. Implied volatility as well as local volatility surfaces are also discussed. Next, solutions to Partial Differential Equations (PDE), wavelets and Fourier transforms are presented. Several methodologies for pricing options namely, tree methods, finite difference method and Monte Carlo simulation methods are also discussed. We conclude this part with a discussion on stochastic differential equations (SDE’s). In the third part of this book, several new and advanced models from current literature such as general Lvy processes, nonlinear PDE's for stochastic volatility models in a transaction fee market, PDE's in a jump-diffusion with stochastic volatility models and factor and copulas models are discussed. In part four of the book, we conclude with a solid presentation of the typical topics in fixed income securities and derivatives. We discuss models for pricing bonds market, marketable securities, credit default swaps (CDS) and securitizations. Classroom-tested over a three-year period with the input of students and experienced practitioners Emphasizes the volatility of financial analyses and interpretations Weaves theory with application throughout the book Utilizes R and MATLAB software programs Presents pseudo-algorithms for readers who do not have access to any particular programming system Supplemented with extensive author-maintained web site that includes helpful teaching hints, data sets, software programs, and additional content Quantitative Finance is an ideal textbook for upper-undergraduate and beginning graduate students in statistics, financial engineering, quantitative finance, and mathematical finance programs. It will also appeal to practitioners in the same fields.