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![]() | The contents of the Quantitative analyst page were merged into Quantitative analysis (finance) on 7 December 2019 and it now redirects there. For the contribution history and old versions of the merged article please see its history. |
Having a PhD in statistics with a minor in math, having taught math and statistics at five different universities, I've never heard the term except here. I suspect it may have currency among business people, so that it should be labeled as business jargon rather than either "maths" (which would be appropriate if mathematicians or statisticians used the word quant). Those same business people who decided to use the term rocket scientist to refer to those who apply sophisticated mathematics to the financial markets are mathematical ignoramuses who don't know that, for example numerical is nowhere near synonymous with mathematical. Michael Hardy 00:50, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)
No such thing as quant or not. Data analysis is just a tool. No nerdx or not. Use a tool is ok. — Preceding unsigned comment added by VunslK ( talk • contribs) 07:45, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
Whatever else happens to this stub, I have to say I find the phrase "Within the industry, such workers are universally known" jarring. If the term is used only within the industry, why use the word "universally?" It's kind of like saying, "Only among people in Rhode Island, everyone in the whole world believes that ..." Slrubenstein
Thanks. I didn't mean the question the validity of the word, just its use in this context. I like your change and think it reads much better now. Slrubenstein
Being a quant myself, and a PhD in Physics - I kinda like the word. And its usage IS ubiquitous in the Financial industry. To seal this discussion, read the "Uber-quant" Emanuel Derman's autobiography "My Life as a Quant". VSreekantan
Seconded. I worked in finance and software in the Financial District of London since 1994, and I've known what a quant is for the last ~10 years, and so I took numerous courses and a Mathematical Finance PhD, and now finally my job title and role is Quantitative analyst WillSmith ( talk) 21:47, 21 September 2016 (UTC)
The external links at the bottom of this article: many of them are links to headhunters with their self-described claims of being THE places to go to for jobs. I think their shouldn't be advertising at the bottom of Wikipedia entries. Can one delete those references? Is there any point since the advertisers who put them there will simply put them back again.
Opinions?
Mr Hardy, "Mathematical ignorami", surely?
I think this article needs a lot of work. The paragraphs about Paul Wilmott and CFA institute are completely out of place. They do nothing to further understanding of the topic of "quantitative analyst" and are arguably non-NPOV. Albertod4 ( talk) 03:37, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
I wrote those paragraphs about Paul Wilmott and the CFA institute and I do not understand why they were out of place. Nor do I understand why they are non-NPOV. I do NOT say I approve their work. I do NOT say they will make you money. What I do say is that they are entirely typical of these approaches. I choose them not because I like them but because they were more typical than any other examples I could think of. A penguin is a bird, but it is not a typical bird the way a robin is, by way of analogy. I am trying to be adult about these things and I am fully willing to edit those paragraphs, but right now I think they make a positive contribution.
Part of what I wanted to do is to show that quantitative analysis is not one thing (which is what the article still implies, in large part) it is several things. JustAnInvestor ( talk) 16:17, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
I have just reviewed the edits others have made to my additions to this article. All were correct and I would like to thank whoever made them. My one complaint is the removal of the footnote sourcing Gehm’s quote. As I understand the rules here, this is exactly the kind of stuff that needs to be sourced. His observation seems both correct (see everyone else’s argument above) and original (no one mentions it above or anywhere else.)
I also changed my description of Gehm from ‘quantitative analyst’ to ‘fund of fund analyst’ in the text. Judging by his website, this seemed a better description of him.-- JustAnInvestor ( talk) 16:14, 20 February 2008 (UTC)
I hope you appreciate my layout rework. Previously, the introduction was almost longer than the rest of the article, with a lengthly narration on statistical and mathematical quants. I created a new section for this content. Still I think, even as a section this should be shortend. It partly reads like an advertisment, a strong form of POV. Then, I have also changed the sections sequence. I hope you agree that Histroy should come first. At last, I moved Mr Merton's picture into the section where he occurs. I am wondering, whether this picture is really necessary. Has he really had that paramount impact to the described job profile that we should display it? Since I am not an expert to the field, I am just suggesting and did not want to change the contents myself, but leave it up to others. Tomeasy ( talk) 19:56, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
Does Nassim Taleb count as a quant? Rachelm1978 ( talk) 10:18, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
DominicConnor ( talk) 15:07, 25 February 2010 (UTC)He doesn't call himself a quant, and doesn't work as one. But his contributions to both the way people think in this field, even if they reject his ideas wholly is such that we have to reference him.
The most recent changes seem to be disagreements about who should be on the list of well-known quants. I happen to disagree with some of the changes, for example, why is Bill Chen, who is indeed a quant but widely-known only for writing a book on poker, more important that Espen Haug, who has been a quant for many years longer and written three important quant books, including the canonical early work The Complete Guide to Options Pricing Models?
If we solve this by people adding and subtracting quants with comments like "in my opinion, not as important as the other guys" or "I've never heard of this guy," it won't do much good. I propose instead to agree on a reasonably verifiable standard. Some guys on the list have Nobel prizes for quant finance, if we eliminate everyone less important than them, we might as well title the list "Nobel prize winning quants." On the other hand, if we include everyone who works as a quant, it'll be like a telephone directory.
My suggestion is anyone with a biography on Wikipedia, whose primary fame comes from the practice or teaching of quantitative finance, should be listed. Granted, there is a wide range of importance of Wikipedia biography subjects, but if someone's important enough for that, they're important enough to be referenced on this list. If you don't think they're important enough for a biography, fight it out on the biography page instead of here. This list will then be a useful cross-reference for people interested in particular aspects of quantitative finance.
I'll wait a couple of weeks for objections or other suggestions. If there are no responses, I'll take a stab at implementing this standard.
AaCBrown ( talk) 19:06, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
AaCBrown ( talk) 19:13, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
JanSuchy ( talk) 17:30, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
This is great, go for it. I've stuck in a few more, but it doesn't have to be complete to be an improvement.
1900 - Louis Bachelier, Théorie de la spéculation
1956 - John Kelly, A New Interpretation of Information Rate, Bell System Technical Journal, 35, (1956), 917–926
1967 - Edward O. Thorp and Sheen Kassouf, Beat the Market
1972 - Eugene Fama and Merton Miller, Theory of Finance
1980 - Lawrence G. McMillan, Options as a Strategic Investment
1996 - Philippe Jorion, Value at Risk
1997 - Espen Haug, The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas
1997 - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options
1998 - Paul Wilmott, Derivatives: The Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering
2004 - Emanuel Derman My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
2004 - Riccardo Rebonato Volatility and Correlation: The Perfect Hedger and the Fox
AaCBrown ( talk) 03:02, 15 January 2009 (UTC)
is a jargon word. Unincyclopedic, needs to be replaced, as this article is not about the word itself.
DominicConnor ( talk)It might jargon, but the term is so common that in my opinion it would be a disservice not to use it. The vast majority refer to themselves as quants. A plumber does not call himself a heating systems maintenance operative, even if that is what it says on his employment contract. —Preceding undated comment added 15:05, 25 February 2010 (UTC).
This is a controversial subject, with nothing that even resembles a consensus for the causes or the solutions. But it's the most important thing in this field, so we need to start thinking about how to cover this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DominicConnor ( talk • contribs) 17:50, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
Removed from main article. Comment: It has been educated several quants with specialisation in optimal stopping, Ito calculus, HJB optmisation etc at the University of Oslo, Norway since early -80. One of the most used books in quant-finance: "stochastic Differential Equations" is written by Øksendal. He has been and still is lecturing Stochastic calculus with applications in finance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dilaudid ( talk • contribs) 09:20, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
Oxford English Dictionary:
quant, adj. and n.3
B.n.3.
2. Finance and Econ.
A quantitative analyst; a person who excels at or depends upon quantitative methods of analysis.
1979 Forbes 16 Apr. 120/2 Russell isn't a ‘quant’, one of the young consultants who do much of their monitoring by questionnaire and most of their evaluating by quantitative analysis.
1989 Computers in Banking (Nexis) July 26 Quants, usually trained in mathematics, physics, or engineering disciplines, are being increasingly hired by Wall Street firms as analysts.
1993 Harper's Mag. Oct. 64 A group of ‘policy wonks’ and quants disdainful of the sticky dilemmas inherent in moral reasoning.
2000 S. Hörter in L. Schuster Shareholder Value Managem. Banks ii. 31 The top management of financial firms has to be able to interpret figures‥. Otherwise, power will informally shift to ‘quants’ and risk managers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Umquant ( talk • contribs) 12:08, 9 December 2010 (UTC)
The article does not stress the sell side (market makers) vs the buy side (fund managers). The book by Patterson provoked confusion. Traditionally quants were sell side. Will add references in addition to "Derman's My Life as a Quant". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Limit-theorem ( talk • contribs) 14:45, 25 December 2013 (UTC)
![]() | This redirect does not require a rating on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||
|
![]() | The contents of the Quantitative analyst page were merged into Quantitative analysis (finance) on 7 December 2019 and it now redirects there. For the contribution history and old versions of the merged article please see its history. |
Having a PhD in statistics with a minor in math, having taught math and statistics at five different universities, I've never heard the term except here. I suspect it may have currency among business people, so that it should be labeled as business jargon rather than either "maths" (which would be appropriate if mathematicians or statisticians used the word quant). Those same business people who decided to use the term rocket scientist to refer to those who apply sophisticated mathematics to the financial markets are mathematical ignoramuses who don't know that, for example numerical is nowhere near synonymous with mathematical. Michael Hardy 00:50, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)
No such thing as quant or not. Data analysis is just a tool. No nerdx or not. Use a tool is ok. — Preceding unsigned comment added by VunslK ( talk • contribs) 07:45, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
Whatever else happens to this stub, I have to say I find the phrase "Within the industry, such workers are universally known" jarring. If the term is used only within the industry, why use the word "universally?" It's kind of like saying, "Only among people in Rhode Island, everyone in the whole world believes that ..." Slrubenstein
Thanks. I didn't mean the question the validity of the word, just its use in this context. I like your change and think it reads much better now. Slrubenstein
Being a quant myself, and a PhD in Physics - I kinda like the word. And its usage IS ubiquitous in the Financial industry. To seal this discussion, read the "Uber-quant" Emanuel Derman's autobiography "My Life as a Quant". VSreekantan
Seconded. I worked in finance and software in the Financial District of London since 1994, and I've known what a quant is for the last ~10 years, and so I took numerous courses and a Mathematical Finance PhD, and now finally my job title and role is Quantitative analyst WillSmith ( talk) 21:47, 21 September 2016 (UTC)
The external links at the bottom of this article: many of them are links to headhunters with their self-described claims of being THE places to go to for jobs. I think their shouldn't be advertising at the bottom of Wikipedia entries. Can one delete those references? Is there any point since the advertisers who put them there will simply put them back again.
Opinions?
Mr Hardy, "Mathematical ignorami", surely?
I think this article needs a lot of work. The paragraphs about Paul Wilmott and CFA institute are completely out of place. They do nothing to further understanding of the topic of "quantitative analyst" and are arguably non-NPOV. Albertod4 ( talk) 03:37, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
I wrote those paragraphs about Paul Wilmott and the CFA institute and I do not understand why they were out of place. Nor do I understand why they are non-NPOV. I do NOT say I approve their work. I do NOT say they will make you money. What I do say is that they are entirely typical of these approaches. I choose them not because I like them but because they were more typical than any other examples I could think of. A penguin is a bird, but it is not a typical bird the way a robin is, by way of analogy. I am trying to be adult about these things and I am fully willing to edit those paragraphs, but right now I think they make a positive contribution.
Part of what I wanted to do is to show that quantitative analysis is not one thing (which is what the article still implies, in large part) it is several things. JustAnInvestor ( talk) 16:17, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
I have just reviewed the edits others have made to my additions to this article. All were correct and I would like to thank whoever made them. My one complaint is the removal of the footnote sourcing Gehm’s quote. As I understand the rules here, this is exactly the kind of stuff that needs to be sourced. His observation seems both correct (see everyone else’s argument above) and original (no one mentions it above or anywhere else.)
I also changed my description of Gehm from ‘quantitative analyst’ to ‘fund of fund analyst’ in the text. Judging by his website, this seemed a better description of him.-- JustAnInvestor ( talk) 16:14, 20 February 2008 (UTC)
I hope you appreciate my layout rework. Previously, the introduction was almost longer than the rest of the article, with a lengthly narration on statistical and mathematical quants. I created a new section for this content. Still I think, even as a section this should be shortend. It partly reads like an advertisment, a strong form of POV. Then, I have also changed the sections sequence. I hope you agree that Histroy should come first. At last, I moved Mr Merton's picture into the section where he occurs. I am wondering, whether this picture is really necessary. Has he really had that paramount impact to the described job profile that we should display it? Since I am not an expert to the field, I am just suggesting and did not want to change the contents myself, but leave it up to others. Tomeasy ( talk) 19:56, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
Does Nassim Taleb count as a quant? Rachelm1978 ( talk) 10:18, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
DominicConnor ( talk) 15:07, 25 February 2010 (UTC)He doesn't call himself a quant, and doesn't work as one. But his contributions to both the way people think in this field, even if they reject his ideas wholly is such that we have to reference him.
The most recent changes seem to be disagreements about who should be on the list of well-known quants. I happen to disagree with some of the changes, for example, why is Bill Chen, who is indeed a quant but widely-known only for writing a book on poker, more important that Espen Haug, who has been a quant for many years longer and written three important quant books, including the canonical early work The Complete Guide to Options Pricing Models?
If we solve this by people adding and subtracting quants with comments like "in my opinion, not as important as the other guys" or "I've never heard of this guy," it won't do much good. I propose instead to agree on a reasonably verifiable standard. Some guys on the list have Nobel prizes for quant finance, if we eliminate everyone less important than them, we might as well title the list "Nobel prize winning quants." On the other hand, if we include everyone who works as a quant, it'll be like a telephone directory.
My suggestion is anyone with a biography on Wikipedia, whose primary fame comes from the practice or teaching of quantitative finance, should be listed. Granted, there is a wide range of importance of Wikipedia biography subjects, but if someone's important enough for that, they're important enough to be referenced on this list. If you don't think they're important enough for a biography, fight it out on the biography page instead of here. This list will then be a useful cross-reference for people interested in particular aspects of quantitative finance.
I'll wait a couple of weeks for objections or other suggestions. If there are no responses, I'll take a stab at implementing this standard.
AaCBrown ( talk) 19:06, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
AaCBrown ( talk) 19:13, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
JanSuchy ( talk) 17:30, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
This is great, go for it. I've stuck in a few more, but it doesn't have to be complete to be an improvement.
1900 - Louis Bachelier, Théorie de la spéculation
1956 - John Kelly, A New Interpretation of Information Rate, Bell System Technical Journal, 35, (1956), 917–926
1967 - Edward O. Thorp and Sheen Kassouf, Beat the Market
1972 - Eugene Fama and Merton Miller, Theory of Finance
1980 - Lawrence G. McMillan, Options as a Strategic Investment
1996 - Philippe Jorion, Value at Risk
1997 - Espen Haug, The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas
1997 - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options
1998 - Paul Wilmott, Derivatives: The Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering
2004 - Emanuel Derman My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
2004 - Riccardo Rebonato Volatility and Correlation: The Perfect Hedger and the Fox
AaCBrown ( talk) 03:02, 15 January 2009 (UTC)
is a jargon word. Unincyclopedic, needs to be replaced, as this article is not about the word itself.
DominicConnor ( talk)It might jargon, but the term is so common that in my opinion it would be a disservice not to use it. The vast majority refer to themselves as quants. A plumber does not call himself a heating systems maintenance operative, even if that is what it says on his employment contract. —Preceding undated comment added 15:05, 25 February 2010 (UTC).
This is a controversial subject, with nothing that even resembles a consensus for the causes or the solutions. But it's the most important thing in this field, so we need to start thinking about how to cover this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DominicConnor ( talk • contribs) 17:50, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
Removed from main article. Comment: It has been educated several quants with specialisation in optimal stopping, Ito calculus, HJB optmisation etc at the University of Oslo, Norway since early -80. One of the most used books in quant-finance: "stochastic Differential Equations" is written by Øksendal. He has been and still is lecturing Stochastic calculus with applications in finance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dilaudid ( talk • contribs) 09:20, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
Oxford English Dictionary:
quant, adj. and n.3
B.n.3.
2. Finance and Econ.
A quantitative analyst; a person who excels at or depends upon quantitative methods of analysis.
1979 Forbes 16 Apr. 120/2 Russell isn't a ‘quant’, one of the young consultants who do much of their monitoring by questionnaire and most of their evaluating by quantitative analysis.
1989 Computers in Banking (Nexis) July 26 Quants, usually trained in mathematics, physics, or engineering disciplines, are being increasingly hired by Wall Street firms as analysts.
1993 Harper's Mag. Oct. 64 A group of ‘policy wonks’ and quants disdainful of the sticky dilemmas inherent in moral reasoning.
2000 S. Hörter in L. Schuster Shareholder Value Managem. Banks ii. 31 The top management of financial firms has to be able to interpret figures‥. Otherwise, power will informally shift to ‘quants’ and risk managers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Umquant ( talk • contribs) 12:08, 9 December 2010 (UTC)
The article does not stress the sell side (market makers) vs the buy side (fund managers). The book by Patterson provoked confusion. Traditionally quants were sell side. Will add references in addition to "Derman's My Life as a Quant". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Limit-theorem ( talk • contribs) 14:45, 25 December 2013 (UTC)