This web site is about two books by Lawrence Dworsky:

www.lawrencedworsky.com

Understanding the Mathematics of Personal Finance: An Introduction to Financial Literacy

(John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 2009)

Probably Not: Future Prediction Using Probability and Statistical Inference

(John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 2008)

This book is a text and/or a reference (formally in a classroom or informally at home), teaching readers what’s going on in the various financial transactions they’re most likely to encounter.

The book starts with a primer on the necessary mathematics and then moves on to the idea of interest, both simple and compound. Following compound interest are discussions of loans, savings, loan amortization, mortgages, present value, credit card interest, annuities, investments, gambling, etc.

Problem and solutions, links to on-line calculators, and descriptions of the spreadsheet calculators are available on this web site using the Spreadsheet Calculators link below.

My intent in writing this book was to extend the reader's appreciation of how random events affect us every day - from the gambling casino to the bus stop, the office baseball league, a string of traffic lights, when we should start collecting our Social Security payments and the properties of the air we breathe.

Follow the links below to the Table of Contents of the book, the Preface, and a sample section (Benford's Law). On the Quidnunc page I will post items of recent news and items that I come across that I think are interesting. Errors that are uncovered will be listed (and corrected) on the Errata page.

Lawrence Dworsky, Ph.D., is a retired electrical engineer with over 40 years of experience. He has taught (Columbia University - NY, New York University - NY, Northern Illinois University - IL) and has consulted for several companies and U.S. Government agencies. Most of his working career (28 years) was spent as a research and development engineer, a research and development  manager and ultimately a technical staff vice president and corporate research lab manager at Motorola, Inc. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and holds 39 U.S. Patents. While at Motorola he was a member of the Motorola Science Advisory Board and a Dan Noble Fellow.

In addition to these two books Dr. Dworsky has also written Modern Transmission Line Theory and Applications (John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 1979) and numerous journal articles.

He currently lives in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, with his wife Suzanna.

He really dislikes writing about himself in the third person (sort of as if he wasn’t in the room at the time), but in this case couldn’t think of a way around it.

Questions, comments, suggestions, anything possibly of relevance to either of these books (or suggestions for a new book) are invited. Send them to mail@lawrencedworsky.com.

Note: The materials excerpted from Probably Not are Copyright 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., used here with permission. The materials excerpted from Understanding the Mathematics of Personal Finance are Copyright 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., used here with permission. Everything else is Copyright 2009 by Lawrence N. Dworsky.

Other links will lead you to the Table of Contents, the Preface, two sample sections, and, of course, an Errata page.