THE MATHS OF MONEY

Dr Jack Gray, a former UNSW mathematician, will give a free talk on the mathematics of finance at UNSW tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday 29 May.

Dr Gray is a principal of a "small" Boston-based company, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co (GMO), that manages $US25 billion of investment funds for various institutions such as pension funds.

His talk is entitled (Rational) mathematics in the (irrational) stockmarket. It will be pitched at a general audience that will need to be only slightly mathematically literate.

"I will be talking in words, not equations, and the talk will be suitable for anyone with an interest in stockmarkets and how and why they move. It will also be useful for other scientists, economists and engineers, and for students in these subjects," he said.

Dr Gray did his PhD at UNSW under the supervision of Professor George Szekeres, who will be at the talk (on his 90th birthday). Dr Gary taught and researched at UNSW for 20 years before working as a quant for AMP Asset Management for 10 years. He joined GMO in 1998 and has developed an increasing interest in the history and philosophy of mathematics.

Asked about the deleterious (or otherwise) effects of futures and other financial derivatives, he said this depended on how they were traded. Used as a hedge, for which they were designed, they were useful for minimising risk, but they could become a serious risk when corporate management failed to understand how derivatives operated.

The talk is the inaugural Financial Mathematics Colloquium to be conducted by UNSW's School of Mathematics.

WHAT: (Rational) mathematics in the (irrational) stockmarket: a free talk by Dr Jack Gray
WHEN: 2 pm, Tuesday 29 May
WHERE: Tyree Room, The Scientia building, UNSW (cars enter multistorey carpark via UNSW Gate 11, Botany Short-term, then walk west, down slope to The Scientia

CONTACT DETAILS: Kirsty Jordan, UNSW School of Mathematics, tel. 9385 7111 or 9385 7112; Rory McGuire, tel. 9385 5751 or 0413 930 728

Date issued: 28 May 2001