[944] Homework, discussion list, and first lecture

[Gautam Iyer]

Hi All,

I scanned in everything I wrote in class today and put it online.

A few other notes:

1. Homework 1 is online and due one week from today. Please be aware of
   the homework policy. I can not stress the importance of really
   understanding the homework. Please be sure you can devote enough time
   to doing it, as it is the best way to learn the material. To
   incentivize you to really understand what you turn in, I'd like to
   repeat my grading policy from class today (and from the website):

	Your overall grade will be the LOWER of the following:
	
	    1. 20% homework, and 80% exams
	    2. 100% exams

   Moreover, I am liberal when converting homework scores to letter
   grades. Last year 100% of the students did better on the homework
   than they did on exams (and so used option 2). So I hope you will not
   feel the need to turn in solutions you do not understand simply "to
   get credit", since turning in solutions you do understand should
   already maximize your homework grade. Also, doing poorly on the
   homework can cost you up to 20% of your grade so please prioritize
   doing the homework.

2. If you have questions on the homework or material related to class,
   you may email this list. I encourage you to respond to questions
   asked by your peers. You can post either from your @andrew.cmu.edu
   address, or your tepper address. If you want to post from a Gmail or
   some other address, you will need to subscribe to this list first,
   and then post.

3. If you want to ask questions anonymously I have set up a second
   email list: mscf-944-discuss at lists.andrew.cmu.edu Messages sent to
   this address will have all your identifying information removed from
   the email headers and delivered to the whole class (and me, and
   David, your TA). Again, feel free to respond to questions asked by
   your peers. You may sign the message of course (if you don't want to
   be anonymous), but your email headers are guaranteed to be anonymous
   even from me.

For your recitation on Friday, David will briefly introduce random
variables, expectations and do examples of this foundational material.
While it might seem a bit abstract (and almost unnecessary) now, it will
be crucial to understand risk neutral pricing, and the derivation of the
Black Scholes formula we will do later on. You do not need to know how
to 100% prove everything from the definition. But you need to develop a
good working knowledge of these concepts, and be familiar enough with
them that they will not impede you from understanding Black-Scholes and
Risk Neutral pricing. (If I stay at the same pace as last year, I will
likely do a first derivation of the Black-Sholes formula immediately
after your midterm.)

I will lecture from New York on Monday, so I won't have Pittsburgh
office hours. NY students, if you have questions I will be available
from lunch time onwards in either the faculty office or the massage
chair.

Best,

Gautam

-- 
'Classic' -- A book that everybody wants to have read, and nobody wants
to read.