Core Actuarial Courses

The core actuarial courses are designed to help students acquire the skills and knowledge to embark on an actuarial career. At the same time, these courses provide for the core foundation needed to prepare them for the preliminary actuarial exams. These examinations are administered by either the Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society.

MTH 360 Theory of Mathematical Interest
Measurement of interest rates, basic problems in interest theory, basic annuities, continuous and varying annuities, yield rates, amortization, bonds and other securities, practical applications, and stochastic approaches to interest. 3 credits; offered Fall, Spring

MTH 361 Financial Mathematics for Actuaries I
Introduction to the mathematics of financial derivatives. Options, forwards, futures, swaps, investment and hedging strategies. 3 credits; offered Fall, Spring

MTH 457 Introduction to Financial Mathematics
Mathematical overview of basic financial instruments. A unified partial differential equation approach to model derivative securities. Partial differential equations in financial mathematics, Black-Scholes equation. Numerical methods for valuing derivatives. 3 credits; offered Spring

MTH 458 Financial Mathematics for Actuaries
Evaluate and construct interest rate models. Rational valuation of derivative securities using put-call parity and calculation of European and American options. Risk management techniques using the method of delta-hedging. 3 credits; offered Fall

MTH 491A Actuarial Internship
Survey of typical actuarial type projects at an actuarial firm such as data analysis, risk analysis, interest rate models, life insurance, benefit programming, analysis of benefit reserves. 3 credits; offered Summer

MTH 491B Teamwork Experience
A field type experience to develop communication skills working in a group setting on multi-faceted projects. 3 credits; offered Fall, Spring

MTH 496 Capstone in Mathematics
A capstone course integrating several areas of mathematics. 3 credits; offered Fall, Spring

STT 441 Probability and Statistics I: Probability
Probability models and basic statistics at an intermediate mathematical level. Discrete, continuous, univariate, and multivariate distributions. Random variables. Normal approximation. Sampling distributions, parameter estimation, and elementary tests of hypotheses. 3 credits; offered Fall, Spring, Summer

STT 442 Probability and Statistics II: Statistics
Estimation, testing hypotheses and simple and multiple regression analysis. Time series: ARMA (Auto Regressive Moving Average) and ARIMA (Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average) models, data analysis and forecasting. 3 credits; offered Spring

STT 455 Actuarial Models I
Stochastic models used in insurance. Survival distributions, life insurance, life annuities, benefit premiums, benefit reserves, and analysis of benefit reserves. 3 credits; offered Fall

STT 456 Actuarial Models II
Continuation of STT 455. Benefit reserves. Multiple life functions. Multiple decrement models and their applications. Elements of stochastic processes for actuaries including Markov chains and Poisson processes. 3 credits; offered Spring

STT 459 Construction and Evaluation of Actuarial Models
Severity, frequency, and aggregate models. Construction of empirical models. Parametric statistical methods. Credibility analysis. Simulation methods. 3 credits; offered Spring