Mathematics in the Financial Industry
"Annual percentage yield, or APY, is a little different from APR. They don't use APY on the Undergraduate Readiness Assessment, so I won't bore you with the details; just keep it in mind if you're ever out buying a car or something."
The bank manager pauses for a moment as if expecting you to ask a follow-up question, but you can't think of anything in particular you have questions about.
"Alright, that's compound interest. Commit that formula to memory since it's not on the formula sheet. Next, let's discuss probability."
"A probability is just a number from zero to one that describes how likely something is to happen. Zero means it's impossible, one means it's definitely going to happen, and 0.5 means it has a fifty-fifty chance. If I flip a coin, the probability of it landing on heads is one-half. If I two six-sided dice, the probability of getting snake eyes is about 0.03, or one divided by thirty-six. This is because there are thirty-six possible outcomes—six outcomes for the first die, six for the second, and you multiply them—and only one of them is snake eyes."