MATH 1140 - Section 001 Nicolas Fourrier

Fall 2012

Financial Mathematics Syllabus Course Location: PHS 205 Course Meeting Time: TuTh 9:30 - 10:45am

Instructor: Nicolas Fourrier Email: [email protected] Web Page: http://people.virginia.edu/~nf9kc

Office: Kerchoff hall 209 Office Hours: TuTh 8:30 - 9:30 am in class.

Course Content: The study of the mathematics needed to understand and answer a variety of questions that arise in everyday financial dealings. Topics include simple and compound interest, valuation of bonds, amortization, sinking funds and rates of return on investments. A solid understanding of algebra is assumed. During the course, we will cover material from chapters 1-7 of our textbook, excluding sections 1.10, 2.6, 3.3, 3.8, 3.9 and 5.7. Notice that we will cover more sections in the book than we have class periods, so we will move quickly. Our pace during the semester will dictate how much of chapter will be covered. Additional topics might be covered as well. Text: Mathematics of Interest Rates and Finance, by Guthrie and Lemon Attendance Policy: Regular attendance is expected. You are responsible for any announcements made in class and any email I send to your UVA email account. Attendance and class participation may also be used in determining borderline grades. Students are expected to be on time for class and stay for the entire class period. Students arriving after the door is closed cannot attend the class. Homework: Each week a couple of problems will be assigned on my Web Page under “Teaching Fall 2012”. Your homework will not be graded. However, you should complete each assignement in a timely manner so that you will be prepared for tests, quizzes and the subsequent material covered in class. If the material is still unclear after practicing the suggested problems, I encourage to pick up additionnal problems from the textbooks. R: In order to solve the problems more quickly, and build programming skills, you will be using the free software R, which can be found on: R-project website. R is an open source programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. R is a part of the GNU project. In addition to be an appreciated skill on your CV, R will eventually save you some time as the semester goes on your homeworks. Projects and homeworks will be suggested through the semester; this will provide a useful tool to solve challenging problems at the end of the semester. You are encouraged to work and build the functions and programs in groups.

Quiz: Pop quizzes will be approximately 10-20 minutes in length and will be closely based on homework problems, in-class exercises, definitions... Material covered in class can be asked anytime. No makeups are given on quizzes, however the lowest two quizzes will be dropped. Exams: There will be three midterm exams and a final exam Midterm 1: Tuesday, September, 18 7.00 - 8.30pm Midterm 2: Monday, October, 22 7.00 - 8.30pm Midterm 3: Monday, November, 19 7.00 - 8.30pm Final Exam: Tuesday, December, 11 7.00 - 10.00pm

given during the semester. Covers : through Sec. 2 Covers: through Sec. 4 Covers: through Sec. 6 Cumulative

For those students with time conflicts or having a valid excuse for missing an exam, a make-up exam will be given the following morning beginning at 7.00am, however, you must notify me at least one week before the exam if you need to take the make-up exam. The date and time of the final exam can not be changed without the proper paperwork from the dean’s office, nor can a final exam be taken early. Course Grade: The course Quiz average: Midterm Exam 1: Midterm Exam 2: Midterm Exam 3: Final Examination:

grade will be determined as follows: 20% 20% 20% 20% 20%

All exercises must be answered with a nice organization, writing from left to right, top to bottom and with a conclusion sentence. Failure to comply will drop-off your exercise’s grade. The grading is based uniquely on the work shown on the paper, any other elements are not considered. In particular, the grades are not open to negociation. If you would like one exercise to be regraded, be aware that the whole exam/quiz will be regraded as well. Solutions: Solutions to every quiz will be posted on my Web Page under “Teaching - Fall 2012” as soon as possible after the quiz has been taken. Also, general information said in class will be online. Solutions to the midterm exams will be given in class on the day they are returned. Cell Phones: All cell phones must be silenced before coming to class and remain so throughout the entirety of the period. If anyone’s cell phone gets caught going off (this includes cell phones which vibrate), that individual will be required to bring cookies the following class meeting as restitution. Failure to comply will result in a zero on the next quiz. Calculators: Calculators will be allowed for any of the quizzes or exams, unless otherwise specified. However, no program should be stored in the calculators. Learning Needs: If you have learning needs that have been evaluated by the Learning Needs and Evaluation Center (LNEC), please provide me with the documentation from LNEC as soon as possible. Honor Code: Quizzes and exams are to be taken without aid of any kind. However, you are encouraged to consult with others on exam and quiz preparation.