Mathematical models in finance

Abstract

Finance is the corner stone of the free enterprise system. Good financial management is therefore vitally important to the economic health of business firms, and thus the nation and the world. The field is relatively complex, and it is undergoing constant change in response to shifts in economic conditions say Brigham and Gapenski in the introduction of their Financial Management book (Brigham, Eugene F., Gapenski, Louis C 1994). As they said the field is relatively complex since most of the financial decisions are involved with uncertainty and risk. This is where quantitative methods and finance meets. In financial decision making process, like most of the decision making process, final decision made by managers, not by some mathematical tools. However, those mathematical tools, used in financial decision making process, contribute to managers' decision a lot. Finance is consist of three interrelated areas which are Money and Capital Markets, dealing with securities markets and financial institutions, Investments, focusing on the decisions of individuals, financial and other institutions while they choose securities for their investment portfolios; and Financial Management, involving the actual management of non financial firms (Brigham, E. F., Gapenski, L. C;1994) In this study I tried to summarize mathematical methods that have been used in finance historically.