• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

maths in a Finance major...? (1 Viewer)

filip23

New Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
7
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
just wondering...exactly what kind of mathematics is involved when undertaking a Finance major?...and general level of difficulty? i've heard that Accounting is much easier?
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Maths in Finance is very easy. It's like 2u level.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Can you plug in numbers into formulas? If so, then you're pretty much set for Finance maths.


In first year and even second year, you just go through pricing bonds which is just "plug in these numbers into these given formulas" and other inane whatnot.
 

Trebla

Administrator
Administrator
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
8,384
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
Most of the maths in finance is 2U/3U level + statistics. If you understood basic calculus, series, probability and linear functions in high school then you should be fine. A lot of the new stuff like linear algebra/matrices, partial derivatives, optimisation and statistics will also be covered during the lectures but these new concepts are based on the existing concepts from high school.

Most of the time you are given the formulas that lecturers seem to pull out of nowhere to substitute in. However, keep in mind that there is a very strong mathematical framework in which these formulas are derived from which most lecturers do not cover. In essence, the finance you do at undergraduate level is a watered down version (i.e. most of the difficult mathematics removed) of the real finance in the academic world (which has very complex mathematical and statistical concepts).
 
Last edited:

seremify007

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2004
Messages
10,059
Location
Sydney, Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Uni Grad
2009
Depends on where you take your finance degree- if you go down the quantitative or qualitative subjects route. I know I'm rubbish at maths and hence went down the latter as I struggled with statistics/data analysis in 1st year. I wouldn't go so far to say that maths is easy in finance because there is an appreciation of how things interact or are derived which is assumed rather than taught. The guys above are right in that you are given a formula to plug numbers into for first/second year normal financey subjects (portfolio management, wealth related, bond pricing, etc)- but if you don't appreciate how the variables interact or how to challenge the data you are using, you'll probably find it a bit hard once you get to the harder subjects which try to bring it all together (i.e. the formulas, the statistical analysis, etc).
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top