Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance [Paperback]

Paul Wilmott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0470319585 | ISBN-13: 978-0470319581 | Edition: 2

Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance, Second Edition is an accessible introduction to the classical side of quantitative finance specifically for university students. Adapted from the comprehensive, even epic, works Derivatives and Paul Wilmott on Quantitative Finance, Second Edition, it includes carefully selected chapters to give the student a thorough understanding of futures, options and numerical methods. Software is included to help visualize the most important ideas and to show how techniques are implemented in practice. There are comprehensive end-of-chapter exercises to test students on their understanding.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a very comprehensive and well researched book...all the methods are clearly explained..." (Lloyd's List, 9 November 2001) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance, Second Edition is an accessible introduction to the classical side of quantitative finance specifically for university students. Adapted from the comprehensive, even epic, works Derivatives and Paul Wilmott on Quantitative Finance, Second Edition, it includes carefully selected chapters to give the student a thorough understanding of futures, options and numerical methods. Software is included to help visualize the most important ideas and to show how techniques are implemented in practice. There are comprehensive end-of-chapter exercises to test students on their understanding. 

In praise of Paul Wilmott and his previous works

Some people write for fame, some for money. Most academics write books to impress the professor down the corridor so that one day they will be the professor down the corridor everyone is trying to impress. Uniquely, Paul Wilmott writes to inform and educate his readers, to convey ideas, and, most importantly, to show them how to do it.

His greatest admirers are his readers. So, instead of endorsements from the great and the good, here are the words of his fans. Their sometimes unique spelling has been retained.

I found it to be easily the best book that I have read/worked through on the subject.

I thought it might amuse you to know that I think your book got me a job!

I’d like to say that this is a great book but you already know that!

I’m a junior derivatives trader in Mexico City. I’ve seen your book and I have only one coment: SEXY!

Loved your book, which is a breath of fresh air, amongst all those arid derivatives books!! It really is in a class of its own. I have wasted so much money on stupid derivative books which too elementary or way too complicated. 

Purchased both Quant Finance and Derivatives a couple of days ago. Will not be able to afford steak or wine for weeks as a result.

BTW, I want to congratulate you for the *best* book in Financial Engineering I've read in the last years.

After reading the book I’d like to follow one of your courses, but they are way too expensive.

Congratulations for your brilliant book.

What I like about it is that it has this no-nonsense kind of approach that you’d expect in a physics text and it spells out the “stuff between the equations”.

Congratulation to your book Derivatives !!! The way you describe, present, and deliver Derivative knowledge is unique! One can feel your passion on the topic. It’s a pleasure to read, study, re-read...

Congratulations on a great new book – ‘PW on Quant Finance’. I bought the DERIVATIVES one but cannot afford this one!!

I am fanatical follower of your book “Derivatives”. You are best and this not flattery. Sorry from my English!

We use it for the part of our Banking and Risk Management course and it’s much more comprehensive than the books that we have recommended in our study guide.

Your book “Derivatives: the Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering” is the best in the market so far.

I shall waste no more precious words but to say that I am very simpathetic to your humor and irony...what most don’t always seem to understand: irony is one of the GREAT filters to access knowledge in this world and an elegant one for that matter.

your book rocks.

Congratulations to the success of your book (I got my copy of it for Christmas).

I would like to thank you for writing Derivatives.

Derivatives is the Greatest! Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Just read the first 7 chapters of Derivatives, and it speaks to me.

complete, brilliant and amusing, stimulating for some original ideas and examples, didactically ready to be used by Students; it employs mathematical tools as tools only, not as a target; it is the last but the best book on derivatives in my library.

You’re book truly struck me as fun, informative and brilliant! Us American would say ‘Awesome Dude!!!’

I had a course on derivatives and your book was not suggested by the teacher (a stupid teacher).

Love you for ever, baby. xxx M

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 728 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (August 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470319585
• ISBN-13: 978-0470319581
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An accessable introduction to a vast field of inquiry, February 6, 2007

By 

Bachelier ""1004"" (Ile de France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance (Paperback)

An "Introduction" to anything is going to alienate half the readers. Why? Well, of necessity it is going to compress large topics, simply summarize complex topics, and leave whole swaths of material untouched. Most complaint reviews here fall roughly in to one or more of those buckets.

Let' face some facts: finance is a huge field of inquiry; mathematics is a huge field of inquiry; practical execution is a huge topic in itself (see the offerings of excellent books on Excel (Walkenbach, Benninga) and C++ (Joshi) and VBA (pick one)). An introduction of the intersections of these topics is no small area of inquiry. I stress using AMAZON's "look inside" feature for a table of contents rather than repeat the litany of topics, but major issues like risk, random, returns, and standard methods are all covered in a fine first approximation.

So how well does Paul Wilmott do? The answer is not bad. This is a great first book to use with folks crossing over to quantitative finance from other areas (Theology in my case), or for folks who will work and talk with quants but not be one themselves. It will probably appear frustratingly simple to math or engineering majors, but this is an *introduction* and believe me, the heavy lifting comes latter.

As a teaching text, the lack of exercises is a frustrating, but the CDROM has lots of fun spreadsheets with simple built in macros that make practical lecturing a breeze.

Wilmott's style is light, and he does make some logical leaps that can look sloppy but are transparently obvious to folks like him (trained in math), but it is often difficult to know what others don't know and explain without over explaining. Any author has to pick where to compress explanations and no one is going to be completely pleased with all of where Wilmott squeezes. Still, with a minimum bit of extra effort (you are sitting at a computer reading this, and Google Scholar is about two clicks away) anything that isn't clear can be found in an expanded technical address at Wolfram or other helpful sites.

This book is also a great filter. My students who complain it is too easy I move quickly along. Those who still don't get it I steer towards careers in financial sales, those that are lulled into a false sense of power I hand them Shreve to invoke humble silence.

In short, this is an admirable work for its purpose: an *introduction* to a vast, complex, and growing field. The perfect book to discover the field while drinking a beer. Just don't let the beer talk you into thinking you've mastered the subject with this book alone, and you'll be fine.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Author leaves gaps in his mathematical derivations, April 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance (Paperback)

I have been reading this book to try to get a better understanding of Hull's book on Options. Wilmott says he is going to keep the math simple but he often leaves out steps in his reasoning. It may be obvious to him but frequently it has not been obvious to me. In fact, I find Hull's book actually more explanatory and easy to follow on topics like stochastic processes and the creation of Ito's lemma than Wilmott's. This is disappointing as Hull gets pretty detailed in his explanations and could use more examples ( not uncommon for academics). I am not an Einstein so I will and do take out pencil and paper to derive results to make sure I understand. I have not been successful in several instances with this book.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Master Wilmott, June 18, 2001

By 

Franco Arda (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance (Paperback)

Wilmott's sequence to "Derivatives" is 200 pages and 26 chapters shorter. Does that make it less valuable? Not at all! In fact, rather the opposite. Wilmott managed to improve Introduction to Quantitative Finance nicely. He cut out the exercises, added more graphs and more insightful and funny "Wilmott" explanations. Above all, the supplied CD is a real pleasure for Excel friends who will find loads of examples from the book.