Web pages for Finance 5040.001 and FINA 5040.002, Introduction to Finance and Financial Mathematics, Spring 2008

Welcome to Finance 5040.

The web site for the financial calculator tutorials is http://www.atomiclearning.com/ti_ba2.

Click here to get electronic versions of files relevant for the class and announced updates, arranged in subdirectories.  Both classes are here in shared directories.

Just follow the link to the pages and navigate by pointing and clicking. The only password protected portion is for the Chapter End Problem Solutions. To get to the Chapter End Problem solutions, please enter the ID and password that I gave you in class. I will update information as the semester progresses.   If you want more homework problems than in the back of the textbook, please see my colleague's web site for many, many more problems at http://www.coba.unt.edu/firel/Kensinge/Fina3770/Problem%20Sets/ or use the FinCoach software.  Dr. Kensinger's first two problem sets apply to our Chapter 4, the third problem set applies to our Chapter 5 and 6.  The fourth problem set applies to our Chapter 7.  If you find Dr. Kensinger's problem sets and solutions helpful, please send Dr. Kensinger a thank you note at kensinge@cobaf.coba.unt.edu. The FinCoach files are loaded on the COBA Network because we have adopted the Keown, Martin, Petty and Scott book for the undergraduate version of this course: Finance 3770. The old version of Fincoach works fine and you can find the old version on the internet (must be installed on a Windows computer).  Just send me an email at James.Conover@unt.edu if you can't find the link to the older version Fincoach 1.X on the Internet. I found it with a yahoo search for "FCprgm.exe".

You can find a complete syllabus and the lecture files in the directories below.

Textbook and calculator

You will need to purchase an electronic textbook for $20 and a financial calculator (the TI BAII Plus or better or the HP 10BII or better). Shop around for your calculator as these can be found at many discount stores).  A standard scientific calculator does not work well in this abbreviated course.  Some students have had success with their TI 83 Plus financial functions, but they looked up the financial functions on the internet after class.  Bring your financial calculator to class every day!

I am using a custom electronic publishing textbook that you can buy from the McGraw-Hill web site at http://ebooks.primisonline.com/.  Don't worry, the book consists of only the six chapters that we cover in this shortened course.  The chapters are from a standard finance textbook written by Brealey, Myers and Marcus, "Fundamentals of Corporate Finance".  The custom textbook is only sold electronically so you will need to set up an account with the textbook publisher, find the book, then purchase it for $20.  This is much cheaper than purchasing the full textbook for $130 and reselling it for half-price at the end of the course!  You can print it or read it on your computer in full color (some printers are better than others).  It uses the Adobe Acrobat technology but you must have a place to download the browser plug-in, ebrary, to be able to see the content of your book.  The computer labs in COBA have been set up with the necessary plug-in to "online view" the eBook.

Purchasing the FINA 5040 textbook: step-by-step.  Go to the URL http://ebooks.primisonline.com/. Click on "Custom eBooks". On the "5 Easy Steps" page, click on next (after reading them). On "Select the Country:", select USA and click Next. On "Choose the State:", select "Texas" and click Next. On "Choose the School:", select "University of North Texas" and click Next. On "Select your eBook (University of North Texas)", select "Introduction to Finance and Financial Mathematics" and click Next. You have success!  You should have a message that states that the text is for FINA 5040 at UNT, that the ISBN is 0-390-71300-7, that the eBook has 196 pages from the "Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, Fifth Edition, Brealey-Myers-Marcus, and the price is $19.87.  You will have to choose your eBook type (I strongly recommend Online Viewing as the option as the Download option "locks" that book to the computer that you are using) and buy the book.  To buy the book, you will need to set up your account. The number of page views is limited as is the number of pages that you can print.  Before you try to print the entire book, check to make sure that your printer driver doesn't cut off the bottom of the page (or the side, etc) with a few pages, preferable with a footnote or so so you can check for this potential problem.

If you do not want to use an electronic book, you can buy the Brealey, Myers, and Marcus "Fundamentals of Corporate Finance" book, 5th edition.  It has 26 chapters and we will be covering six of them. The full textbook ISBN is 0-07-301238-6. We will cover Chapter 2, "Why Corporations Need Financial Markets and Institutions"; Chapter 3, "Accounting and Finance"; Chapter 4, "The Time Value of Money"; Chapter 5, "Valuing Bonds"; Chapter 6, "Valuing Stocks"; and Chapter 7, "Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria". These 196 pages of the complete 722 page text concentrate on the topics of Financial Mathematics, Time Value of Money, and Financial Analysis.  The core class in Finance for the MBA program, FINA 5170, concentrates on topics necessary for conducting capital budgeting analysis properly.

Contact Information

Navigate back to the homepage at http://www.coba.unt.edu/firel/conoverj/   Or contact me in the following ways:
 Office Phone: 940-565-3061 (voicemail)
Receptionist Phone: 940-565-3050
Fax Number: 940-565-4234 
E-mail: James.Conover@unt.edu (preferred contact method)
   
Office Hours: listed on the syllabus and by appointment (arranged with me or receptionist).
Office Location: Room BA 177, FIREL Department, College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76203-5339