Quantitative Methods Flashcards
Annuity
A stream of equal cash flows that occur at equal intervals
Annuity Due
With an annuity due, there is one less discounting period since the first cash flow occurs at t=0 and thus is already PV. All else equal, PV of an annuity due is always greater than the PV of an ordinary annuity
Loan Amortization
Process of paying off a loan with a series of periodic loan payments whereby a portion of the outstanding loan amount is paid off, or amortized, with each payment
Cash Flow Additivity Principle
PV of any stream of cash flows equals the sum of the present values of the cash flows
NPV
Assumes the reinvestment of a poroject’s cash flows at the opportunity cost of capital while the IRR method assumes the reinvestment rate is the IRR
Holding Period Return
(Ending value / beginning value) - 1 This is also known as the actual return an investor will receive if the money market instrument is held until maturity
Money Weighted Return
Applies the concept of IRR to investment portfolios. Defined as the IRR of the return on a portfolio, taking into account all cash inflows and outflows.
Bank Discount Yield
Expresses the dollar discount from the face (par) value as a fraction of the face value, not the market price of the instrument. Assumes simple interest
A yield quoted on a bank discount basis is not representative of the return earned by an investor for the following reasons
- Bank discount yield annualizes using simple interest and ignores the effect of compounding
- Bank discount yield is based on the face value of the bond, not its purchase price - investment returns should be evaluated relative to the amount invested
- Bank discount yield is annualized based on a 360 day year rather than 365
EAY
The annualized HPY on the basis of a 365-day year and incorporates the effects of compounding
Money Market Yield
The annualized yield that is based on price and a 360 day year and does not account for the effects of compounding, it assumes simple interest
Bond Equivalent Yield
2 x the semiannual discount rate. Yields on bonds are quoted as twice the semiannual rate because the coupon interest is paid in two semiannual payments
When to use time-weighted return vs. money weighted return
Time-weighted return is the preferred measure of a manager’s ability to select investments. If the manager controls the inflow and outflows, the money weighted return is preferred
Statistics
data and the methods used to analyze data
Descriptive Statistics
summarize the important characteristics of large data
Inferential Statistics
pertain to procedures used to make forecasts, estimates, or judgements about a large set of data
Population
the set of all possible members of a stated group
Sample
Subset of the population of interest
Four major measurement scales
- Nominal Scales - contain the least information
- Ordinal Scales - every observation is assigned to one of several categories
- Interval Scales - provide relative ranking plus the assurance that differences between scale values are equal
- Ratio Scales - represent the most refined level of measurement. Provides ranking and equal differences between scale values, and they also have a true zero point as the origin
Parameter
a measure used to describe a characteristic of a population
Frequency Distribution
a tabular presentation of statistical data that aids the analysis of large data sets. Summarizes statistical data by assigning it to specified groups, or intervals
How to construct frequency distribution
Define the intervals, tally the observations, count the observations
Relative Frequency
The percentage of total observations falling within each interval
Cumulative and Absolute Frequency
Sums the absolute or relative frequencies starting at the lowest interval to the desired interval (usually the highest)
Histogram
Graphical presentation of the absolute frequency distribution
Frequency Polygon
The midpoint of each interval is plotted on the horizontal axis and absolute frequency for that interval is plotted on the vertical axis
Measures of Central Tendency
Identify the center, or average, of a data set. This central point can then be used to represent the typical, or expected, value in a data set
Arithmetic mean
Only measure of central tendency for which the sum of the deviations from the mean is zero. This can be affected by outliers which skew the mean