Finance A Quantitative Introduction

By providing a solid theoretical basis, this book introduces modern finance to readers, including students in science and technology, who already have a good foundation in quantitative skills. It combines the classical, decision-oriented approach and the traditional organization of corporate finance books with a quantitative approach that is particularly well suited to students with backgrounds in engineering and the natural sciences. This combination makes finance much more transparent and accessible than the definition-theorem-proof pattern that is common in mathematics and financial economics. The book's main emphasis is on investments in real assets and the real options attached to them, but it also includes extensive discussion of topics such as portfolio theory, market efficiency, capital structure and derivatives pricing. Finance equips readers as future managers with the financial literacy necessary either to evaluate investment projects themselves or to engage critically with the analysis of financial managers. Supplementary material is available at www.cambridge.org/wijst.

1. Introduction; 2. Fundamental concepts and techniques; 3. Modern portfolio theory; 4. Market efficiency; 5. Capital structure and dividends; 6. Valuing levered projects; 7. Option pricing in discrete time; 8. Option pricing in continuous time; 9. Real options analysis; 10. Selected option applications; 11. Hedging; 12. Agency problems and governance; Solutions to exercises; Glossary; Index.

By providing a solid theoretical basis in finance this textbook introduces modern finance to readers, with emphasis on investments in real assets and the real options attached to them, including students in science and technology, who have a good foundation in quantitative skills.

Dominicus van der Wijst is Professor of Finance at the Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, where he has been teaching since 1997. He has published a book on financial structure in small business and a number of journal articles on different topics in finance.