The UPF Department of Economics and Business is delighted to announce publication of the new book "Introduction to Financial Derivatives with Python", written by Professors Elisa Alòs and Raúl Merino. It is is an ideal textbook for undergraduate courses on derivatives, whether in finance, economics, or financial mathematics degree programmes.

The book provides a gentle introduction to the principles of quantitative finance, and is suitable for students and professors alike. This book starts from zero and presents the basic language and techniques, with plots, examples, and exercises in every chapter.

It covers all of the essential topics one would expect to be covered and includes the basis of the numerical techniques most used in the financial industry, and their implementation in Python. What's more, it requires no prior programming or advanced mathematics knowledge beyond basic calculus.

Prof. Alòs said of the book: "The book is focused on readers with the only requirement of a basic knowledge of probability theory and analysis. On the other hand, we wanted the reader to be able to experiment with the practical side. For that reason, we cover the materials with coding examples, and we provide a basic introduction to Python."

The book is connected to a GitHub repository which contains all the code from the book, with examples of concepts explained. The examples can be used to gain intuition about what is happening in real examples, but also grasp the pillars for more advanced techniques and models. This can be helpful for both undergraduate students looking to practice the topics covered and gain a better understanding of derivatives, and professors or other interested people who want to learn more about the coding principles of quantitative finance.

Profs. Alòs and Merino have taught the Department's Financial Derivatives and Risk Management course for the last six years, and found that most textbooks were aimed at readers with a deeper level of mathematics; had no example code; or were too sophisticated for students without previous knowledge. This sparked the idea and basis for collaboration on the book.

"After completing an undergraduate course on derivatives," Prof. Merino said, "students should understand the basic concepts used in the financial industry. Therefore, it is essential to cover the financial jargon, the mathematical tools (such as Binomial trees or Monte Carlo methods), and how to implement it by code."

To those considering studying derivatives, Prof. Alòs advises: "The best thing is to start from scratch, with toy models, and grow step by step."

Overall, "Introduction to Financial Derivatives with Python" has all the necessary content to introduce readers to the field of financial derivatives and help them gain a better understanding of finance and code.

The book is available for purchase online at Routledge.