Talk:Quantitative analyst

message: 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)
replies: text: ... and now I have moved this article. Michael Hardy 00:50, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I moved it again and re-wrote the article. Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 16:46, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)
replies: text:  You are probably right Dr Hardy. The equations used in these models are very similar or even identical to those used in Thermodynamics, which are naturally used to model real thermodynamic systems. I believe the praise was that a very complicated system such as markets, which have, statistically speaking, billions of degrees of freedom, could be so successfully described by such simple equations, until the market 'decided' to fight back, and throw all these Quants off-balance. Of course, when all these complicated looking formulae are evaluated, what is returned is just a number. An engineering friend told me that in engineering, when a confidence limit has to be given, what you do is just think of a number and double it. Successful traders may not have the mathematical knowledge of Quants, but they sure know which way the market is going. I agree with you, rocket science isn't really that complicated, although rocket engineering and technolgy are. 81.154.205.12 (talk) 19:27, 21 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Business jargon

message: 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
:It is a legitimate bit of verbiage . It would also be legitimate to say "Rhode Islanders universally agree that they live in a pretty small state" for "All Rhode Islanders agree that they live in a pretty small state." But I changed it anyway, no point in jarring people unnecessarily. Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 17:00, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Jaring phrase

message: 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
:what do u have to do to become a quant?
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)
thread_title: Usage in finance industry

message: Mr Hardy, "Mathematical ignorami", surely?
:Here's a 2007 NYTimes article that uses the term in its title: Even Quants Wobble When Markets Quake. For what it's worth. Antelan talk 02:19, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Since "ignoramus" is not a Latin noun but a verb inflection meaning "we do not know," and came into English in a 1615 play which used the word as a joke, "ignorami" is not the natural plural.  Most dictionaries prefer "ignoramuses." 67.173.10.34 (talk) 08:30, 30 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Usage of the term

message: 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)
thread_title: More work needed

message: 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)
thread_title: Mayor layout rework

message: Does Nassim Taleb count as a quant? Rachelm1978 (talk) 10:18, 19 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Notable Quants

message: is a jargon word. Unincyclopedic, needs to be replaced, as this article is not about the word itself.
:done
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)
thread_title:  The word “quant” 

message: 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)
thread_title: Role of Quants in the Financial Crisis

message: 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)
thread_title: Comment

message: 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)
thread_title:  "Quant" is in OED 

message: 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)
replies: text: I think the notion that quants started on the sell side is inaccurate. Bernstein's "Capital Ideas" documents efforts by fund managers to apply the theories of Markowitz, Sharpe, and Lintner to portfolio construction and asset allocation in the 1960s. I propose some modification to the introduction to correct this, and to expand the history section with a key development that lead to the first stock index fund in the early-1970s, as well as elaborate a bit on Bachelier's work. S.detoro (talk) 22:31, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sell Side vs Buy Side