What is Quantitative Finance?

THE BEGINNING

Quantitative finance is a relatively new subject which saw its birth at the hands of physicists and other quantitatively trained PHD’s in the early 70’s. Models, concepts, and mathematics have been translated from various disciplines, the major one being physics. Over a short period of time, it has expanded to include a multitude of disciplines each of which have tethered themselves to quantitative finance (a result of technological advancement and innovation) and as a consequence pushed it in their respective directions causing it to expand at an increasing rate.

TIMELINE OF THE BIRTH OF QUANTITATIVE FINANCE:

Today, there are four disciplines that are woven together to make Quantitative Finance:

• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Computer science
• Finance

Each of these disciplines are a required ingredient to create quantitative finance…