This is an introduction to the basic tools in finance, meant as preview to my corporate finance and valuation classes. It starts with an introduction to how a business is structured, using a financial balance sheet as its construct. After an introduction to the intuition behind how we measure cash flows and risk, it looks at the time value of money, at the heart of so much we do in finance. It ends with three short sessions, the first on valuing contractual claims (like bonds), the second on valuing residual claims (like equity) and third on valuing contingent claims (like options).

The purpose of the class is to expose undergraduate and graduate students to the mathematical concepts and techniques used in the financial industry. Mathematics lectures are mixed with lectures illustrating the corresponding application in the financial industry. MIT mathematicians teach the mathematics part while industry professionals give the lectures on applications in finance. An investment game ( https://www.hedgehogcamp.ai/ ) is also available as an additional learning resource. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-s096-topics-in-mathematics-with-applications-in-finance-fall-2013/