Like many university professors, I enjoy teaching and search for the right book for each course I teach. In 2001 when I developed a course in financial mathematics for undergraduate mathematics majors, I felt that no existing book combined the right mathematical, statistical, economic, and financial elements for students at Millersville University. After teaching the course, cobbling together lecture notes from a number of different sources, all of which presented some but not all things well, I decided to write my own textbook. The ultimate goal was to have it published so that it would be available to students and professors everywhere. I was very fortunate to find a publisher (World Scientific Publishing) willing to take a chance on a first-time author. The book in question An Undergraduate Introduction to Financial Mathematics, J. Robert Buchanan, World Scientific Publishing Company, Hackensack, NJ, USA, appeared in 2006. The first edition is now out of stock. At the risk of sounding like a advertisement for WSPC, I want to say that all the people I dealt with there were exceptionally professional and it was a pleasure to work them.
Over a period of two years I put together a second edition incorporating new topics and corrections, amplifications, and clarifications of topics in the first edition (errata for the first edition). The second edition appeared in late 2008 with an ISBN 9789812835352. I am thankful to all the readers of the first edition who took the time to send me comments and pointers to errors and typos in the first edition. If you would like to purchase a copy of this book please check the publisher's website.
I am pleased with the messages of encouragement and other comments that readers and reviewers of the book have sent to me. I hope that people looking for a gentle introduction to the mathematics of financial engineering will find the book useful. In return readers can help improve the second edition by sending me any suggestions, corrections, or other ideas for improvement. If I am able to use your suggestion I will certainly mention you by name and affiliation in the preface of the book. Corrections to the text are especially valuable. If you believe you have spotted an error, please send me a description of the error (including its location in the book) and I will update the list of errata for the second edition.
Instructors teaching from my textbook may wish to use a set of PDF files I have created for each chapter for use in the classroom. Please contact me with any corrections of comments on them. A zip file archive of the entire collection is also available. Links to individual chapters are below.