Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance [Paperback]

Paul Wilmott (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471498629 | ISBN-13: 978-0471498629 | Publication Date: June 1, 2001

In this updated student edition, Paul Wilmott updates and extends his earlier classic, Derivatives: The Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering. Included on CD are numerous Bloomberg screen dumps to illustrate, in real terms, the points raised in the book, along with essential Visual basic code, spreadsheet explanations of the models, and the reproduction of term sheets and option classification tables. The author presents all the current financial theories in a manner designed to make them easy to understand and implement.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a very comprehensive and well researched book...all the methods are clearly explained..." (Lloyd's List, 9 November 2001)

From the Back Cover

Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance is an accessible introduction to the classical side of quantitative finance specifically for university students. Adapted from the comprehensive, even epic, work Paul Wilmott on Quantitative Finance, it includes carefully selected chapters to give the student a thorough understanding of futures, options and numerical methods. New software has been added and sidebars included which explain the mathematics for those less confident in this area.

In praise of Paul Wilmott and his previous works
'It is a serious work that takes the reader all the way from the simplest of notions to the most complicated of recent models. In short it is the most comprehensive and up to date textbook on options that I have seen . . . The style is jocular, but the content heavyweight. ... Who ever heard of a mathematician who could convey the intuition of a result to those with a less complete training in the subject? Wilmott is an exception: he knows when a result is hard to understand and treats the reader in a sympathetic manner. This book is a splendid achievement' The Times Higher Educational Supplement
'..a text which will probably come to rank alongside Fabozzi's collected works of Leibowitz as a comprehensive practical reference source for financial theory. Dr Wilmott is an academic who clearly prides himself on his knowledge of the practical side of finance' Futures and OTC World
'Paul Wilmott has produced one of the most exciting and classic reference volumes on derivatives which is a must for . . . students, practitioners, risk managers' Global Trading
'The style is pedagogical and yet very lively and easygoing. As only great teachers can, Wilmott makes even the most obtuse mathematics seem easy and intuitive' Marco Avellaneda, Professor of Mathematics and Director. Division of Quantitative Finance, Courant Institute of Mathematical Science, New York University
'Paul Wilmott changed my life' David Newton, Manchester Business School

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471498629
• ISBN-13: 978-0471498629
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,085,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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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.