However, if you have never used Excel, be prepared for some extra effort to keep up. Go through this before the first class and keep it handy for reference. There are two other recurring topics in which prior knowledge would help. This will be helpful when we discuss using regression, curve fitting, and forecasting. In many discussions, you must understand the concepts of expected value, variance, and probability.
Finance is the functional field used to illustrate many of the spreadsheet modeling applications.
Therefore, it is recommended that you take Finance either before this course or simultaneously. This has not been made a hard prerequisite. However, you will get more from this course if you have had Finance. Financial Models Using Simulation and Optimization, by Wayne Winston, Palisade Corporation, 1998. Excel 2000 Programming for Dummies, by John Walkenback, IDG Books, 1999.