The Buck Starts Here

Hosted by Alex Kontorovich and Andy Davidson

Next up

“Global Dimensions”

with special guest Keith Devlin

Wednesday, June 28 at 6:30 pm ET

(online)

Join hosts Alex Kontorovich and Andy Davidson for The Buck Starts Here, a series revealing the interwoven history of math and finance.  In this second session of the series, “Global Dimensions,” Alex and Andy welcome guest mathematician Keith Devlin, a professor emeritus of mathematics at Stanford University and the author of Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World.  For many years, Keith was also known as “The Math Guy” on National Public Radio.

Alex, Andy, and Keith will traverse the world (but not literally!) to explore how ideas in math and finance developed in India, China, and Africa and how those ideas made their way to Europe.  Learn how those concepts were conveyed through the writings of Leonardo Di Pisa, who was also known as Fibonacci.  Discuss how the schools developed to teach these methods still have resonance in our studies of algebra and accounting today. 

Don’t miss this dynamic conversation weaving together the rich threads of history, mathematics, and finance!

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About The Buck Starts Here:

Finance lives at the intersection of wealth, time and risk.

The vast machinery of our financial systems relies on mathematics ranging from arithmetic through stochastic calculus.  While finance benefits greatly from mathematics, it is not a one-way relationship — many concepts in mathematics, from zero and negative numbers to the dynamics of random motion, found their genesis in financial applications.

In this four-part series of connected but independent presentations, discover how some of the greatest mathematicians across the continents and millennia transformed concrete financial problems into abstract mathematical concepts, while addressing financial applications.

Whether you are curious about the history of math or looking for practical financial information, this series is for you.  With help from experts in finance, history, and mathematics, we will explore how real world problems inspire mathematical thinking and learn how to apply those mathematical insights to improve our own financial decision making today.

The Buck Starts Here series is hosted by Alex Kontorovich and Andy Davidson, and each session will feature a guest expert.  Alex is a Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University and MoMath’s 2020–2021 Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Public Dissemination of Mathematics.  Andy Davidson is the founder of Financial Life Cycle Education and a member of the MoMath Advisory Council.