An Introduction to Mathematical Finance: Options and Other Topics

by Sheldon M. Ross

This mathematically elementary introduction to the theory of options pricing presents the Black–Scholes theory of options as well as introducing such topics in finance as the time value of money, mean variance analysis, optimal portfolio selection, and the capital assets pricing model. The author assumes no prior knowledge of probability and presents all the necessary preliminary material simply and clearly. He explains the concept of arbitrage with examples, and then uses the arbitrage theorem, along with an approximation of geometric Brownian motion, to obtain a simple derivation of the Black-Scholes formula. In the later chapters he presents real price data indicating that this model is not always appropriate and shows how the model can be generalized to deal with such situations. No other text presents such topics in a mathematically accurate but accessible way. It will appeal to professional traders as well as undergraduates studying the basics of finance.

200 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 1999

About the author

Sheldon M. Ross is the Epstein Chair Professor at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California. He received his Ph.D. in statistics at Stanford University in 1968 and was formerly a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1976 until 2004. He has published more than 100 articles and a variety of textbooks in the areas of statistics and applied probability, including Topics in Finite and Discrete Mathematics (2000), Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists, 4th edition (2009), A First Course in Probability, 8th edition (2009), and Introduction to Probability Models, 10th edition (2009), among others. Dr Ross serves as the editor for Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences.