The Alchemists of Wall Street

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes? What kind of thinking and reasoning goes behind creating those sophisticated financial trading forumlas that create billions of dollars every year? Even more, do you wonder what kind of math wizard it takes to create these formulas?

Quants, or quantitative managers, are the math wizards and computer programmers in the engine room of our global financial system who designed the financial products that almost crashed Wall st.

The credit crunch has shown how the global financial system has become increasingly dependent on mathematical models trying to quantify human (economic) behaviour. Now the quants are at the heart of yet another technological revolution in finance: trading at the speed of light.

Below is a pretty interesting video that reveals the type of people and thinking that goes into creating these forumlas.