Due to a flaw in the system, undergrad students who have the prerequisites but are not in CS or SE may have trouble registering using Quest. Send email to csadvisors@student.cs.uwaterloo.ca and they will give you a permission number.
Grad students may also have a problem. If you are not in CS, you cannot register in the course until after the first week of classes. As of now, there is still lots of room for grad students (check the Schedule of Graduate Classes . If you still have problems, I will sign you in if there is room.
The past two decades have witnessed an explosion in the trading of sophisticated financial instruments, known as derivatives. Financial derivative securities, such as options and futures, can be viewed as a form of insurance. These instruments are routinely used by large corporations to hedge currency fluctations, uncertain energy costs and commodity price volatility. Of course, like any powerful tool, derivatives can also be misused. An example of this situation occured when many banks offloaded subprime mortgages to unsuspecting buyers.
Many financial contracts contain embedded options. As a result, individual investors are often unaware that they frequently buy and sell options. Some examples of these embedded options include mortgage prepayment privilages, equity linked GICs, and fixed rate natural gas home heating contracts.
Modern finance now requires use of sophisticated computational tools for pricing and hedging derivative contracts, and for optimizing portfolio allocation. In this course, we will study a variety of numerical algorithms for carrying out these tasks, such as Monte Carlo methods, binomial trees, numerical partial differential equations, and constrained optimization.
Students are required to have taken a course in numerical computation, equivalent to CS370,CS371, or CM 271, and STAT 231/STAT 241. Software Engineering students who have not taken the required S3AT prerequisites may take the course with the permission of the instructor.
Students are also expected to be familiar with basic concepts in calculus and linear algebra which are covered in the required first and second year Mathematics sequence for the BCS degree.
No background in finance is assumed. All the basic concepts in finance needed will be covered in this course.
You will need to register in the course to obtain a computing account on the CS student computing environment. You should register in CS476/676. After you do this, you can obtain a password by going to see the Math Faculty consultants in MC3011 (you must be registered in the course and have a Watcard). If you have a problem which can't be resolved by the consultants, see Lori Suess in MC3011b. By being on the student environment, you will get a license to use matlab. If you use a research machine, you may not have a license for matlab (depending on your supervisor). You can check this out by emailing Colin Campbell (campbell@ist.uwaterloo.ca). If you have matlab on your own machine, you don't need to use a UofW course account.
Students are advised not to make any travel arrangements before the final examination times are posted. Note that in the event that the final examination is postponed, the final examination will be rescheduled for the day following the end of the regular examination schedule. Under no circumstances will alternate examinations be scheduled for students who have made travel arrangements which conflict with the final examination.
Students must inform the registrar's office if they have a conflict
in the final examination schedule, by the date posted
on the registrar's web site. Note that there is a precise
definition of conflict as defined by the registrar.
Registrar.
The course instructors will then be contacted by the registrar's office to make alternate arrangements. Under no circumstances will the instructor's make alternate arrangements for a final examination unless given instructions by the registrar's office.
Plagiarism is representing the work of others as your own. Plagiarism on exams includes using unauthorized aids or communicating in any way with others during an examination. Plagiarism on assignments includes copying another student's solution and submitting it as your own, allowing another student to copy your solution, collaborating excessively with another student, or obtaining solutions from any other source. The standard penalty for plagiarism is a grade of -100% for that piece of work, with a minimum deduction of 5% from the final course grade.
All academic offenses are reported to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and are recorded in the student's file. Subsequent academic offenses in the same course or in other courses will lead to more severe penalties, up to and including suspension and expulsion.
We encourage you to discuss general concepts and problems with classmates, tutors, TAs, and instructors. However, the solution that you submit must be worked through by yourself and written in your own words. It is not acceptable to work on an assignment with somebody else and write it up individually. The only exceptions are assignments or projects which the instructor designates as group activities. When discussing course matters, do not take notes, and do not look at another person's partial solutions, or show them yours.
In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt please be certain to contact the department's administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing academic offenses and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about "rules" for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Most students are unaware of the line between acceptable and unacceptable academic behaviour, especially when discussing assignments with classmates and using the work of other students. For information on commonly misunderstood academic offenses and how to avoid them, students should refer to the Faculty of Mathematics Cheating and Student Academic Discipline Policy.
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.