There is a trade off between the explanatory powers of a model and its complexity: the more a model explains, the more complex it will be. Would you disagree with that? Before you answer, let me make a claim: Mathematics is about revealing patterns that simplify. The mathematician's work is actually based on producing simplicity, … Continue reading The efficient frontier for financial modelling
Category: Spreadsheets
Making neat Excel charts (quickly)
If, like me, you spend a lot of time building spreadsheets with charts, you will want to make sure they are all lined up and neat. This is how I do it. You can get this whole process done in seconds with a bit of practice :-). Select the range of cells that you want … Continue reading Making neat Excel charts (quickly)
Project finance funding: a simple Excel model
Financing of infrastructure projects is a hot topic at the moment. Penny Lynch has kindly made a simple cashflow Excel model available which shows the key components (equity vs debt) of project finance funding. It's called Simple IRR and DCF Calculations, you'll find it on this page here (along with lots of other helpful spreadsheets).
The power of notation in problem solving
It's trivial when you think about it: good mathematical notation is one way of making a problem easier to solve. In my introduction to advanced probability theory I put emphasis on how probability theory has developed a clever and natural way to describe the processes we deal with. If you think about it some more, … Continue reading The power of notation in problem solving
Fermat's Last Spreadsheet 