Colorado State University

Welcome to MCC 133
Financial Mathematics

 Department of Mathematics


  Spring Semester 2006


Basic Information
 Description
 Grading Schedule
Homework Projects Class Policies Links

 

Basic Information

Course Description

Topics:  This course is about understanding and solving mathematical problems arising in financial settings.  The focus is practical:  you will learn to translate everyday financial matters into mathematical problems which you will solve using a financial calculator and/or a computer spreadsheet program. Examples include:
Most importantly, you should also learn to draw (with the help of a financial calculator and/or spreadsheet software) informed conclusions from financial information presented in the media or by bankers, salespeople, etc.

Lectures:  In practice, after a quick review of the ratios and percentages, we will cover roughly one section of the text per lecture.  Please come to each lecture prepared with your financial calculators, as we will do many examples and you will want to work the calculations on your own simultaneously.  

Labs:  On eight Mondays (see the schedule below,) we will meet in a computer classroom.  Our goal during these lab sessions will be to learn to use spreadsheet software to perform financial calculations.  No prior knowledge of such software is assumed, but because of obvious time constraints, general introductory material to spreadsheets is limited to the first few labs.  If you have never used a spreadsheet program before, you might find the some of the tutorials in the links section of this page helpful.

Project:  Homework, quiz and test problems are necessarily limited in scope and complexity and may often be solved by the use of rote recipes.  In order to demonstrate a deeper level of understanding of the concepts and methods introduced in this course, students will complete a final project, due during the fourteenth week of classes.

Tips for Success:  In order to master this material (or the material in just about any math class) we recommend the following:

Grading Information


Point Values of Course Components
 Final Letter Grades
In-Class Exams  (100 each)
 300
Quizzes
 100
Excel Labs
 100
Project
 100
Final Exam
 200
Total
 800

720 - 800
 A
640 - 719
 B
560 - 639
 C
480 - 559
 D
0 - 479
 F



Quizzes:
There are NO MAKE-UPS on quizzes. There will be approximately 10 quizzes over the course of the semester worth 15 points each. Your quiz grade will be the total of your quiz grades or 100 points, whichever is lower.

Excel Labs:
Labs are worth 15 points each. There are 8 labs over the course of the semester. Your lab grade will be the total of your lab scores or 100 points, whichever is lower. NO LATE LABS ARE ACCEPTED.

Honesty Policy:
Exams must be completed individually. No group work or outside assistance is allowed. Any student found to have engaged in academic dishonesty (i.e. cheating. in any form, on an exam) will receive a zero on the exam and be subject to further University disciplinary action.

Make-Up Exam Policy:
Exams will be taken on the scheduled dates and times. If there exists a conflict due to a school-sponsored event, notify your instructor (by e-mail) a minimum of one week in advance of the exam to schedule a make-up time. If there is an extreme, unforeseen emergency on the day of the exam (e.g., illness requiring a doctor's visit, death in the family, etc.) contact your instructor (by telephone or e-mail) within 24 hours of the scheduled exam. If you are unable to reach your instructor, please leave a message with the mathematics office: 491-1303. You must provide WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION of your university-sponsored event or unforseen emergency before you can take a make-up exam. Attempts to subvert this policy, e.g., by claiming a death in your family which did not, in fact, occur, is considered academic dishonesty; please see above. The course coordinator, if necessary, will make final decisions about make-up exams.

ADA Statement:
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that reasonable accomodations be made for students with disabilities. If you need such assistance, please contact your instructor as soon as possible.


Class Schedule

Week 1 Jan. 16
 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day;  No class!

Jan. 18
 1.1 Calculator Arithematic, 1.2 Equations

Jan. 20
 1.3 Solving Equations, 1.4 Ratio and Proportion, 1.5 Unit Quantites
Week 2
Jan. 23
Lab 1 (Meet in Weber 205/206;  bring a floppy disk for saving your work!)
 Lab 1 Instructions  Due by Jan. 30

Jan. 25
 2.1 Percents, Decimals, and Fractions, 2.2 Basic Percent Equation

Jan. 27 2.3 Amount,
Quiz 1, covering Ch.1 and Sections 2.1--2.2;
Week 3
Jan. 30
2.4 More Amount, 2.5 Percent Problems

Feb. 1 2.6 Index Numbers
Quiz 2, Covering Sections 2.3--2.5

Feb. 3
 2.7 Personal Income Taxes.
Week 4 Feb. 6
Lab 2 (Meet in Weber 205/206)
 Lab 2 Instructions  Due by Feb. 13

Feb. 8
 Review Chapters 1 and 2 Chapters 1 and 2, Practice Problems

Feb. 10 EXAM 1 (covering Chapters 1 and 2)
Week 5 Feb. 13
3.1 Simple Interest  (Meet in Shepardon)

Feb. 15
3.2 Compound Interest

Feb. 17 3.3 Compound Interest, Calculator
Quiz 3, covering sections 3.1 and 3.2
Week 6 Feb. 20
 		Lab 3 Lab 3 Instructions  Due by Feb. 27

Feb. 22
 		3.4 Time Value of Money

Feb. 24
3.5 Doubling Time of Money
Quiz 4, covering sections 3.3 and 3.4
Week 7 Feb. 27
 		Lab 4 Lab 4 Instructions  Due by Mar 6

Mar. 1
 		4.1 Ordinary Annuities

Mar. 3
4.2 Annuities due
Quiz 5, covering sections 3.5 and 4.1

Week 8 Mar. 6
 4.3 Annuities and Compound Interest (Meet in Shepardson)

Mar. 8
 Review Chapters 3 and 4
Chapters 3 and 4, Practice Problems

Mar. 10
 EXAM 2 (Covering chapters 3 and 4)
Week 9
 Mar. 20
 5.1 Consumer Credit (Meet in Shepardson) Last Day to W Drop

Mar. 22
 5.2 Home financing


Mar. 24
 5.3 Closing Costs
Quiz 6, covering sections 5.1--5.2
Week 10 Mar. 27
 Lab 5 Lab 5 Instructions  Due by Apr. 3

Mar. 29
 5.3 Closing Costs, continued; 5.4 Variable rate mortgages

Mar. 31
 6.1 Life Insurance
Quiz 7, covering sections 5.3--5.4
Week 11 Apr. 3
 Lab 6 Lab 6 Instructions  Due by Apr. 10

Apr. 5
 6.2 Stocks

Apr. 7
 6.2 Stocks, continued
Week 12 Apr. 10
 Lab 7 Lab 7 Instructions  Due by Apr. 17

Apr. 12
 6.3 Bonds
Quiz 8, covering sections 6.1--6.2

Apr. 14
 6.4 Mutual funds
Week 13 Apr. 17
 Review Chapters 5 and 6  (meet in Shepardson)
Quiz 9, covering sections 6.3--6.4
 Chapters 5 and 6, Practice Problems

Apr. 19
 EXAM 3


Apr. 21
 7.1 IRAs
Week 14 Apr. 24
 Lab 8 Lab 8 Instructions  Due by May 1

Apr. 26
 7.2 Investments in Conservation

Apr. 28
 7.3 Inflation and investments
Quiz 10, covering sections 7.1--7.2  PROJECTS DUE 		Project Grading Criteria
Week 15
 May 1
 Review Chapters 1, 2, and 3

May 3
 Review Chapters 4 and 5

May 5
 Review Chapters 6 and 7
 Practice Final
Practice Final, Answers
Finals Week
 May 10
7:30--9:00
 COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM
Meet in Shepardson

Homework

Homework will not be collected and graded. However, it is in your best interest to work through every problem assigned below, since quizzes will be based very closely on homework problems.


Week 1
1.1: #1-29 alternate odds, 39, 41, 43, 53, 65, 66, 69, 73
1.2: #4-8, 11-13, 28, 29
1.3: #3, 4, 11, 12, 19, 20, 27, 28
1.4: #24-26, 31, 32, 43, 44, 58, 70, 74, 79, 81
1.5: #15, 19, 23, 27, 29, 49, 56, 76
2.1: #97-105
2.2: #3, 12, 20, 33-35, 46, 49, 54

Week 2
2.3: #8, 14, 23, 34, 43, 48
2.4: #13, 18, 24, 27, 32
2.5: #2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 12

Week 3
2.6: #3, 5, 7, 9, 11
2.7: #1-4, 21-22, 27-30, 75, 77a

Week 4
3.1: #3, 6, 10, 13, 17, 19, 25, 27

Week 5
3.2: #4-7, 10, 12, 17
3.3: #1-5, 10, 15, 21, 23, 26
3.4: #1, 3, 8, 10, 19

Week 6
3.5: #2, 4, 7, 10, 15
4.1: #2, 6, 12, 13, 17, 20. Additional problem: Given a fixed amount you want to withdraw monthly for 20 years upon retirement in 30 years, compute how much you will need to invest in a mutual fund paying 12%.

Week 7
4.2: #1, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13
4.3: #3, 5, 8, 13, 15, 18

Week 8
5.1: #3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 16, 20

Week 9
5.2: #1, 7, 9, 13, 17, 19, 23, 26, 27
5.3: #2, 3, 5, 9, 11, 15
5.4: #1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10

Week 10
6.1: #1, 7, 8, 13, 15
6.2: #2, 6

Week 11
6.2: #8, 10, 15, 16
6.3: #3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15

Week 12
6.4: #3, 7, 9, 11

Week 13
7.1: #2, 5, 9, 12, 14
7.2: #3, 8, 10, 13, 15

Week 14
7.3 #2, 4, 7, 10, 13, 17

Week 15

Stuck on a problem? Email Travis or stop by during office hours.

Useful Links

HP Website

Mortgage Information:
Wells Fargo Bank
House Pricing Info

Some Microsoft Excel tutorials:
Rutgers
University of South Dakota
Iowa State

Consumer Price Index
2000 Federal Tax Tables
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