Solving Quantitative Problems in Finance: A Tool for Unlimited Practice

Abstract

Students are continuously told that the way to learn finance is to “do finance” which means to practice solving quantitative problems. For this recommendation to work, however, it requires students to have a tool that allows them ample opportunities to practice. This paper presents such a tool and one that instructors can easily create as well as customize to their own way of presenting topics. Moreover, with pressure to keep costs for students down, this tool requires no subscription to any commercially available product. Although this tool has been developed to include many standard finance topics, this paper illustrates the use of the tool for various aspects of the “Time Value of Money” topic. The paper includes a description of how the tool has been applied in an introductory corporate finance course.