2014/15 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

MATH1510 Financial Mathematics 1

15 creditsClass Size: 233

Module manager: Dr M. Mobilia
Email: m.mobilia@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2014/15

Pre-requisite qualifications

A-level Mathematics

This module is mutually exclusive with

LUBS1035

Foundations of Finance

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module serves as an introduction to financial mathematics, the application of mathematics to financial problems. We will look at simple financial transactions, like mortgages, annuities and government bonds, and study how to assign a value to them. Central concepts are interest and the time value of money (the idea that one pound now is preferable to one pound later). This theory can then be used to evaluate investment projects.

Objectives

- Introduction to mathematical modelling of financial and insurance markets with particular emphasis on the time-value of money and interest rates.
- Introduction to simple financial instruments.
- This module covers a major part of the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries CT1 syllabus (Financial Mathematics, core technical).

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
- understand the time value of money and to calculate interest rates and discount factors
- apply these concepts to the pricing of simple, fixed-income financial instruments and the assessment of investment projects.

Syllabus

1. Interest rates. Simple interest rates. Present value of a single future payment. Discount factors.
2. Effective and nominal interest rates. Real and money interest rates. Compound interest rates. Relation between the time periods for compound interest rates and the discount factor.
3. Compound interest functions. Annuities and perpetuities.
4. Loans.
5. Introduction to fixed-income instruments. Generalized cashflow model.
6. Net present value of a sequence of cashflows. Equation of value. Internal rate of return. Investment project appraisal.
7. Examples of cashflow patterns and their present values.
8. Elementary compound interest problems.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	33	1.00	33.00
Tutorial	9	1.00	9.00
Private study hours			108.00
Total Contact hours			42.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Consolidation of course notes and background reading: J. McCutcheon, W.F. Scott "An Introduction to Mathematics of Finance".

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Assessment of success on 5 example sheets
- Contact during tutorials.



!!! In order to pass the module, students must pass the examination. !!!

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Problem Sheet	Homework set and due every other week	15.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		15.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	2 hr 30 mins	85.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		85.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

There is no reading list for this module

Last updated: 02/02/2015

Disclaimer

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