Investment Science
By
Product Description
Fueled in part by some extraordinary theoretical developments in finance, an explosive growth of information and computing technology, and the global expansion of investment activity, investment theory currently commands a high level of intellectual attention. Recent developments in the field are being infused into university classrooms, financial service organizations, business ventures, and into the awareness of many individual investors. Modern investment theory using the language of mathematics is now an essential aspect of academic and practitioner training.
Representing a true breakthrough in the organization of finance topics, Investment Science will be an indispensable tool in teaching modern investment theory. It presents sound fundamentals and shows how real problems can be solved with modern, yet simple, methods. David Luenberger gives thorough yet highly accessible mathematical coverage of the standard and recent topics of introductory investments: fixed-income securities, modern portfolio theory and capital asset pricing theory, derivatives (futures, options, and swaps), and innovations in optimal portfolio growth and valuation of multiperiod risky investments. Throughout the book, he uses mathematics to present essential ideas of investments and their applications in business practice. The creative use of binomial lattices to formulate and solve a wide variety of important finance problems is a special feature of the book.
In moving from fixed-income securities to derivatives, Luenberger increases naturally the level of mathematical sophistication, but never goes beyond algebra, elementary statistics/probability, and calculus. He includes appendices on probability and calculus at the end of the book for student reference. Creative examples and end-of-chapter exercises are also included to provide additional applications of principles given in the text.
Ideal for investment or investment management courses in finance, engineering economics, operations research, and management science departments, Investment Science has been successfully class-tested at Boston University, Stanford University, and the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and used in several firms where knowledge of investment principles is essential. Executives, managers, financial analysts, and project engineers responsible for evaluation and structuring of investments will also find the book beneficial. The methods described are useful in almost every field, including high-technology, utilities, financial service organizations, and manufacturing companies.
This textbook introduces the basics of asset pricing theory and portfolio optimization at a level suitable to advanced undergraduates. The mathematics seems to be just right for practitioners: no martingales, no girsanov theorem, but a complete treatment of binomial lattices and a semi-quantitative introduction to diffusion processes and to stochastic calculus. Problems are very well chosen. The organization of the text is standard, except for the last two chapters, related to optimal growth portfolio and to real options. Final remark: the book is excellent for self-study. I learnt the subject from Prof. Luenberger himself, and he was repeating each single word from the book, saying (as a disclaimer) that “it’s not me copying the book… it’s the book that copies what I said. After all, I wrote it.” Needless to say, the class was excellent.
Rating: 5 / 5
This book serves very good introduction to mathematical finance. Particularly,
I enjoyed the discussion of bonds immunization, mean-variance theory, CAPM, APT.
It’s most suitable for senior undergraduates or any junior graduate students.
But it doesn’t deserve 5 star for the following reasons:
1) Most of the theories discussed so far in the book are TOO idealized and
over simplified. Financial data is dynamic and massive. In model quantitative/computational finance, the most important thing is to understand what the data says rather than what one thinks the data structure might be. With the book, one probably can only do some macroeconomic/very coarse analysis. Author should incorporate more data analysis evidence together with proposed theories.
2) The proof of ito’s lemma is wrong(i.e. “Deltaz^2 –> deterministic as Deltat –> 0″). It’s surprising since most books make the same mistake. It is the law of the large number contributes to the equality!(i.e. integration sense). The misunderstanding of the proof might lead to the misunderstanding of the hedging process.
3) In the commodity option pricing session, author demonstrated the use of futher market to price the option. This should be discussed further (i.e. black’s model).
4) The volatility pumping session should be further researched. The explanation is
not satisfactory.
Rating: 4 / 5
This is the best book by far on the theory of finance. The book covers all the important fundamental concepts and develops them into practical models without going overboard and introducing every possible variation on the model. the style is both conversational and mathematical. It is replete with discussions about the material, but it doesnt gloss over the math. I took professor Luenbergers course at Stanford, and it piqued my interest in finance enough to pursue it professionally. (At the time, I was a masters student in electrical engineering.) I purchased several other books in finance. I dont even know where they are now, every time I have a question or need to build a new model, I go straight to Luenberger. This book is so good, I bought a second copy just as a backup, in case I lose my copy and the book goes out of print.
Rating: 5 / 5
This should be a required text for all financial engineering and computational finance students. Dr. Luenberger’s treatment of portfolio allocation and derivatives is the best I have read. Finance is finally beginning to make sense. Bala Shetty is a professor of information and operations management at Texas A&M University in College Station,Texas.
Rating: 5 / 5
It is very difficult to find a book on investments with a clear quantitative background that fits the necessity of advanced students. Luenberger’s explanations and exercices are the finest I have ever read. His book is a good step for those who want to keep on studying portfolio analysis, CAPM, asset pricing and stochastic process.
Rating: 5 / 5