The (mis)behaviour of markets : a fractal view of risk, ruin, and reward /
Benoit B. Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson.
- New ed.
- London : Profile, 2008.
- 1 online resource (352 p. ) ill.
Previous ed.: 2004.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Put simply, fractal geometry makes the complex simple. In this book the authors apply fractal geometry to the workings of financial markets. They show how stock prices, indexes, trading & exchange rates can be reduced to straightforward formulae that yield an accurate description of risk. This international bestseller, which foreshadowed a market crash, explains why it could happen again if we don't act now. Fractal geometry is the mathematics of roughness: how to reduce the outline of a jagged leaf or static in a computer connection to a few simple mathematical properties. With his fractal tools, Mandelbrot has got to the bottom of how financial markets really work. He finds they have a shifting sense of time and wild behaviour that makes them volatile, dangerous - and beautiful. In his models, the complex gyrations of the FTSE 100 and exchange rates can be reduced to straightforward formulae that yield a much more accurate description of the risks involved.