A First Course in Quantitative Finance

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.

1. Introduction; Part I. Technical Basics: 2. A primer on probability; 3. Vector spaces; 4. Utility theory; Part II. Financial Markets and Portfolio Theory: 5. Architecture of financial markets; 6. Modern portfolio theory; 7. CAPM and APT; 8. Portfolio performance and management; 9. Financial economics; 10. Behavioral finance; Part III. Derivatives: 11. Forwards, futures and options; 12. The binomial model; 13. The Black–Scholes theory; 14. Exotics in the Black–Scholes model; 15. Deterministic volatility; 16. Stochastic volatility; 17. Processes with jumps; Part IV. The Fixed-Income World: 18. Basic fixed-income instruments; 19. Plain vanilla fixed-income derivatives; 20. Term structure models; 21. The LIBOR market model; Appendix A. Complex analysis; Appendix B. Solutions to problems.

A First Course in Quantitative Finance is suitable for economics, finance, econometrics and mathematics students with an interest in quantitative finance. Covering all topics from the architecture of financial markets to derivatives, it uses stereoscopic images to allow 3D visualisation of complex subjects without the need for additional tools.

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