Course Highlights

MATLAB® is a high-level language and development tools that let you quickly develop and analyze your algorithms and applications with interactive environment that enables you to perform computationally intensive tasks faster than with traditional programming languages such as C, C++, and Fortran.

You can use MATLAB in a wide range of applications, including financial modeling and analysis. Add-on toolboxes (collections of special-purpose MATLAB functions, available separately) extend the MATLAB environment to solve particular classes of problems in these application areas.

MATLAB provides a number of features for documenting and sharing your work. You can integrate your MATLAB code with other languages and applications, and distribute your MATLAB algorithms and applications.

This 2-day instructor-led course is especially designed to equip financial professionals, researchers, and managers with a strong understanding of MATLAB environment and its functionalities for basic financial, statistical, data analysis and optimization applications.

Topics include:

Who Should Attend

Existing and prospective MATLAB users involved in financial services research, data analysis, and modeling

Course Objectives

Course Benefits
Upon the completion of the course, the participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of MATLAB as a programming language and data analysis environment which is essential and useful for designing and building financial systems.

Prerequisites

No prior knowledge of MATLAB is required. Familiarity with basic computer operations is recommended.

Course Outline

MATLAB User Interface
You will be introduced to the MATLAB user interface by performing data import, analysis and graphical display task using graphical tools, while requiring only a minimal understanding of the MATLAB language. You will be able to interactively read data from an Excel file, interactively plot the data, use basic math on data, explore statistics of data, fit the data, automatically create M-function to reproduce graphics, and export figure into another application.

Working with MATLAB variables
You will be introduced to MATLAB variables as data containers. Two essential operations are emphasized: creating variables and accessing the data the variables contain. The section also introduces MATLAB operations for computing with data.

Financial Data Input and Output
Before you can do any kind of data analysis in MATLAB, you have to be able to import your data into the MATLAB environment. Likewise, when you have completed your analyses, you may want to export the results for purposes of recording and reporting. This section focuses on techniques for moving data back and forth between external files and data containers (variables) in the MATLAB workspace.

M-File Programming
M-files are the setting for MATLAB programming. This section gives an overview of how to write, edit, run, debug, and publish M-files. The distinction between script and function M-files is highlighted, and basic programming structures and best practices are introduced.

Financial Graphical Visualization
You will be introduced the visual side of MATLAB by showing you how to create plots of both vector and matrix data. Visualizations complement the numerical capabilities of MATLAB, and should play an equal role in any thorough data analysis.

Basic Statistics and Data analysis
You will work with matrices and perform data analysis and statistics. You will learn about numeric and text variables, convert time data (strings) into serial dates, and look for help on functions and syntax. You will be able to perform data analysis, compute basic descriptive statistics, and visualize data in a variety of ways. You will be able to work with incommensurable data and missing data.

Introduction to Financial Toolbox
You will be able to use inputs and outputs for Financial Toolbox Function. You will perform common financial tasks, such as using decimal and fractional formats, analyzing and computing cash flow.

Introduction to Optimization Toolbox
You will be introduced to the fundamentals of applied optimization with a focus on realizing optimization in the MATLAB environment. You will be able to specify the optimization problem types and choosing optimization toolbox functions. You will learn how to formulate a portfolio optimization problem which searches for weights that maximize the return while minimizing the risk.

Exercises
Hands-on examples and exercises apply basic techniques to financial applications such as time series analysis, fixed income security valuation, and portfolio management.