[instructor] :: kostas kardaras. e-mail :: kardaras@bu.edu.
[where to find the above instructor] :: the office hours for the 2008 spring semester are mondays and wednesdays, 2:30pm - 4:00pm. you can stop by on the 3rd floor of 143 bay state road (or at the conference room on the 4th floor of the same building to accomodate more people). other days and times the instructor might reside in many other places as well, including the math department, the park, several local breweries, etc.
[teaching fella'] :: nikolay nikolaev. niki's e-mail address :: niki@math.bu.edu. niki's office hours :: tuesdays and thursdays 01:00pm-02:00pm at MCS 261.
[class meetings] :: mondays and wednesdays, 11:30am - 01:00pm, at STH 440.
[description of the course] :: this is a masters level course on computational math finance.we shall be discussing numerical solutions of PDEs via the finite differencesapproach, as well as Monte-Carlo simulation methods for pricing contingent claims, hedging them by estimating sensitivities, portfolio risk management, etc.
[prerequisites] :: you basically must have some reasonable knowledge of stochastic calculus, at the level of MA795 for example. knowledge of programming [one of MATLAB or C++] is also essential. NB: please contact me if you outside the math of finance masters program and you wish to take the course. this could save much time and trouble, especially from your side.
[grading] :: weekly homework exercises will account for 40% of the grade, midterm for 25% and final for 35%.
[textbooks] :: the following books are recommended, in the sense that none will be used for assigning problems, etc. nevertheless, the first one (Glasserman's) contains everything we shall be discussing on monte-carlo; it is a must for your library and for getting the best out of the course. please, obtain it somehow.