Writing/Translating textbooks

[Khoa Tran]

Originally Posted by YADD

Not sure if it'd be useful: How about a translation project of some text into VNese? Let's pick a popular textbook, Baxter & Rennie would be a short and perfect one to start. But books are copyrighted. How about lecture notes instead? Shreve's and Houghston's, e.g., are available online. We just have to ask for their permission (no copyright). I don't think they would turn us down.

This is a great initiative. I actually was thinking about that too, just yesterday but I've been damn too busy to keep up with that thought.

However, since you've proposed this idea, I totally support it. For classic texts, translating may be a better idea than writing by ourselves. If so, we can ask for the rights from the authors and the corresponding publisher; and I believe that they would be happy. Which book should be translated first is also a topic of discussion.

On the other hand, we can also write a book by ourselves with each author taking care of the section(s) that (s)he truly understands.

This needs to be discussed in depth though. Thanks anh Hoang for putting this up.

[YADD]

(Must say it up front: I can't do the translation work...)

Not easy to deal with books. How to find a publisher in VN then? Say, 1,000 copies, 100,000 VNDs per copy => 100,000,000 VNDs ~ 6,000 USDs. How much would the copyright cost? (Pessimistic, am I not? Overall, I m still struggling to undertand how US publishers survive without subsidies. Enlightenment, anyone?)

Each writing a chapter sounds like an attractive idea. Let's see whether it gathers enough support from other forum members. Not sure yet, but I'll try my best to contribute a chapter or two, provide that my employer provides the clearance.

[Khoa Tran]

The publishers only gain (via by copyrights or by more appreciation of the book) while lose almost nothing. Anyway, I haven't done this before so I'm not so sure. Lecture notes, despite being free, typically receive much less attention than books.

Regarding writing/translating work, I can contribute and probably can only be committed during easy times (i.e. Dec 15 to Jan 15). Anyway, let's list out some introductory topics so that interested members can choose their parts:

1. Introduction: markets and products, bond, stocks, options, option pricing problem, binomial model
2. Elementary Stochastic Calculus: Ito's integral/formula, Feynman-Kac
3. Black-Scholes model, BS PDEs, and BS's formula
4. Basic PDEs
5. Numerical methods for PDEs/SDEs
6. Introduction to American Options, Free boundary problems, and exotic options
7. Stochastic volatility
8. Interest Rate Derivatives
9. Portfolio Optimization
10. Utility Theory
11. Credit Risk
12. Other topics in QF and directions of research

I composed this list pretty randomly and carelessly (just for the sake of kicking off). So, suggestions and discussions are welcome.

[YADD]

Not so many (if any) supporters so far. Critical mass, critical mass, please...

I thought the writing was to be more academic. On a second thought, a collection of academic essays would fit in the library shelf.

Just an elementary-level book won't suffice. Better translate word-by-word, say, Hull's text. Safer and more economical that way too.

Let's aim higher. Let's add some authority - how about "VNQF on Quant Fin"? (Of course in VNese.) Isn't there a two-volumed "Paul Wilmott on Quant Fin"? I don't think we collectively have to feel inferior.

Let's not make it a cook book. Add certain amount of insights in every chapter wherever possible. Let's make it a good future reference.

[Khoa Tran]

This is just the start of the society (it has been launched for less than 1 week) so I find it reasonable that there's no critical mass yet for this sub-project.

But this is a long-term idea so we should be patient. Anh Hoang, if I have time during the XMas break, I can start writing a bit to see how it goes.

I'm of course anti any cookbook style.

[hanguyen]

Hi all,

Writing or translating, the answer must depend on the objective. In our case, I suppose we want to promote the practice of Quantitative Finance (QF) in Vietnam.

If that is the case, writing is the answer. Since the subject is relatively new in Vietnam, classical texts, such as Hull's, are too heavy for an average practitioner in Vietnam. We haven't talked about if the American style can fit the Vietnamese readers.

I propose we write a book, focusing on potential applications of QF in the context of the VNese market. Of course QF basic materials (stochastic, PDE, numerical methods...) need to be there, but we can still publish another in-depth book on these subjects .

I find this project interesting. I'll be happy to help.

[Khoa Tran]

I've briefly discussed this issue with anh Ha over last weekend. We agreed that we should collectively write a (thin) book that motivates Quant Finance in Vietnam instead of talking too much on technical analysis (so it's a fun read instead of a textbook). How it is structured is to be discussed more in depth when we meet in California.

I also talked to an economist (Du Tran) and a Finance faculty about being co-authors. Generally, they both support the idea but both need to know the big picture of the content and how the book is structured. That makes sense to all of us.

In summary, we have enough people of different background in the team. How to develop this idea is to be debated (in depth in California). Any comments?

[DCFC]

As Paul Wilmott is my business partner, I cannot of course endorse abusing copyright.

I have to say that as a recruiter, simple transalation does nothing for your job chances. However, if you add some of your
own insight it could be good. I would also say that since Finance is an English speaking sport, entry level people should be encouraged
to use English all the time.

However, Paul is unusual in actually making any real money from his book, a book is called "successful" if it sells 4-5,000 copies
The motivation is a combination of more subtle factors.

1) It gives a feeling of real accomplishment, and many people at the top of financial markets could have
taken academic career paths.

2) it is of course a fine way of telling the world how clever you are, which can help to land vbery good jobs.

3) the discipline of writing a good book makes you make sure you understand something fully.

You have to decide how important these factors are to you.

I think a good idea might be to make a book or Wiki that explains some of the harder English-language terms
in VN. This would be more than a dictionary since these don't cover this stuff.

[YADD]

Originally Posted by DCFC

simple transalation does nothing for your job chances. However, if you add some of your own insight it could be good.

Agree. I've always advocated to that aspect of the writing plan.

The motivation is a combination of more subtle factors.

1) It gives a feeling of real accomplishment, and many people at the top of financial markets could have taken academic career paths.

2) it is of course a fine way of telling the world how clever you are, which can help to land vbery good jobs.

3) the discipline of writing a good book makes you make sure you understand something fully.

Point (3) is the most beneficial.

My personal thanks for visiting our forum. I've always appreciated your thoughts/insights.

[hanguyen]

Originally Posted by DCFC

The motivation is a combination of more subtle factors.

1) It gives a feeling of real accomplishment, and many people at the top of financial markets could have
taken academic career paths.

2) it is of course a fine way of telling the world how clever you are, which can help to land vbery good jobs.

3) the discipline of writing a good book makes you make sure you understand something fully.

You have to decide how important these factors are to you.

I think a good idea might be to make a book or Wiki that explains some of the harder English-language terms
in VN. This would be more than a dictionary since these don't cover this stuff.

As a researcher, I believe the most important motivation of our project, or any other publication in general, is we have a story that is worth to tell. Many things are side products of this goal.

Thanks DCFC for the post. I definitely agree with the idea of making a Wiki.