mathematica?

[Zeuge]

How prevalent is mathematica in quant finance, if at all?

 

[TobiAkin]

I believe matlab is most widespread software in this particular field. Mathematica not that much but I know for sure some quantitative students are using it extensively.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

I did my Bachelor Thesis using Mathematica. Mostly it was about pattern recognition and I became quite fond of it actually. Although I extensively use Matlab in relation to finance I believe that Mathematica has some features that I sometimes which Matlab aslo had, mosty when it comes to efficiency in the programming syntax!

 

[TobiAkin]

I agree. Actually at most work positions Matlab is required mainly(in math-oriented programs). I have also used mathcad quite frequently on my BA and it also has very useful and elegant features but none can beat matlab in terms of worthiness of knowing if you are willing to find a job(correct me if Im wrong). The OPs question about "prevalence" seems to be dedicated to an ease to find a job by mastering mathematica.

 

[ExSan]

I did my Bachelor Thesis using Mathematica. Mostly it was about pattern recognition and I became quite fond of it actually. Although I extensively use Matlab in relation to finance I believe that Mathematica has some features that I sometimes which Matlab aslo had, mosty when it comes to efficiency in the programming syntax!

is your thesis available online ? can you share the link that points to it ?

 

[DoubleTrouble]

is your thesis available online ? can you share the link that points to it ?

Not that I'm aware of, but I can attach it for you. However it's unfortunatly in Swedish

 

[TobiAkin]

Interesting, it has become prevalent to write codes in thesis. I was using copula techniques for constructing pricing model for CDOs and I remember almost all the papers one previously included some python codes in it, most of them were done in C++ and half the paper was how to program the theory presented in another part. This is not the case with you of course. Just noted.

 

[ExSan]

Not that I'm aware of, but I can attach it for you. However it's unfortunatly in Swedish

Thank you ! now I have a reazon to learn Swedish

 

[Zeuge]

How different is matlab from mathematica? Since I am more familiar with mathematica, will it be easy for me to pick up matlab?

 

[Faisal]

Mathematica is perhaps the best tool around for symbolic calculations. When you are dealing with numeric stuff, matlab is the king. When you are used to mathematica and shift to matlab, initially you tend to get irritated by the lack of clarity that matlab offers. However, once you overcome that, you would really enjoy the power with which matlab handles numbers, particularly in form of matrices. Any data based modeling is perhaps twice as much easier to perform in matlab than in mathematica. So yes, matlab is pretty easy to pick.

 

[Yike Lu]

Python=>
numpy+scipy+matplotlib is supposed to approximate a large portion of basic matlab functionality.
sympy is a symbolic math library for python.

Plus you learn python so if your program turns out to be useful, it's much closer to being production worthy.

 

[Barny]

Agree with Yike Lu. Python is way better than Matlab. Also, mathematica will be almost useless for quant finance, since its job is a symbolic toolkit useful for analytic calculations, which will you will be doing very little of as a code monkey.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Also, mathematica will be almost useless for quant finance, since its job is a symbolic toolkit useful for analytic calculations

This is not (completely) true.
Mathematica is also for computation as well. Alan Lewis uses it all the time. And MM has PDE solvers.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Thank you ! now I have a reazon to learn Swedish

Maybe start wth Norwegian?

 

[ExSan]

Maybe start with Norwegian?

I just met a Norwegian quant girl, but she seems to be more interested in learning Castellano (spanish) than teaching Norwegian .
BTW is Norwegian easier than Swedish ?

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Maybe start wth Norwegian?

I just met a Norwegian quant girl, but she seems to be more interested in learning Castellano (spanish) than teaching Norwegian .
BTW is Norwegian easier than Swedish ?

I find Swedish easier to understand than Norwegian (text is OK). There are 2 main 'dialects' of Norwegian. You might like to enquire which one you learn

 

[DoubleTrouble]

I find Swedish easier to understand than Norwegian (text is OK). There are 2 main 'dialects' of Norwegian. You might like to enquire which one you learn

Daniel: How come you know so much about Scandinavian languages?

 

[bigbadwolf]

BTW is Norwegian easier than Swedish?

They are roughly the same: Swedes and Norwegians can understand each other's languages (hardly surprising considering the two countries are adjacent and Norway was under Swedish control until 1905). The two main versions of Norwegian are Bokmål ("book language") and Nynorsk ("new Norwegian"). The first is the one you need.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

As a Swede I want to add the fact that Nynorsk is impossible to understand while Bokmål is very much understandable from a Swedish point of view.

 

[bigbadwolf]

As a Swede I want to add the fact that Nynorsk is impossible to understand while Bokmål is very much understandable from a Swedish point of view.

I think perhaps Nynorsk is a little closer to Danish.