Chapter 2 Mathematical and Statistical Foundations ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 1 Functions • A function is a mapping or relationship between an input or set of inputs and an output • We write that y, the output, is a function f of x, the input, or y = f(x) • y could be a linear function of x where the relationship can be expressed on a straight line • Or it could be non-linear where it would be expressed graphically as a curve • If the equation is linear, we would write the relationship as y = a + bx where y and x are called variables and a and b are parameters • a is the intercept and b is the slope or gradient ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 2 Straight Lines • The intercept is the point at which the line crosses the y-axis • Example: suppose that we were modelling the relationship between a student’s average mark, y (in percent), and the number of hours studied per year, x • Suppose that the relationship can be written as a linear function y = 25 + 0.05x • The intercept, a, is 25 and the slope, b, is 0.05 • This means that with no study (x=0), the student could expect to earn a mark of 25% • For every hour of study, the grade would on average improve by 0.05%, so another 100 hours of study would lead to a 5% increase in the mark ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 3 Plot of Hours Studied Against Mark Obtained ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 4 Straight Lines • In the graph above, the slope is positive – i. the line slopes upwards from left to right • But in other examples the gradient could be zero or negative • For a straight line the slope is constant – i. the same along the whole line • In general, we can calculate the slope of a straight line by taking any two points on the line and dividing the change in y by the change in x • ∆ (Delta) denotes the change in a variable • For example, take two points x=100, y=30 and x=1000, y=75 • We can write these using coordinate notation (x,y) as (100,30) and (1000,75) • We would calculate the slope as ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 5 Roots • The point at which a line crosses the x-axis is known as the root • A straight line will have one root (except for a horizontal line such as y=4 which has no roots) • To find the root of an equation set y to zero and rearrange 0 = 25 + 0.05x • So the root is x = −500 • In this case it does not have a sensible interpretation: the number of hours of study required to obtain a mark of zero! ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 6 Quadratic Functions • A linear function is often not sufficiently flexible to accurately describe the relationship between two series • We could use a quadratic function instead. We would write it as y = a + bx + cx2 where a, b, c are the parameters that describe the shape of the function • Quadratics have an additional parameter compared with linear functions • The linear function is a special case of a quadratic where c=0 • a still represents where the function crosses the y-axis • As x becomes very large, the x2 term will come to dominate • Thus if c is positive, the function will be ∪-shaped, while if c is negative it will be ∩-shaped.
‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 7 The Roots of Quadratic Functions • A quadratic equation has two roots • The roots may be distinct (i., different from one another), or they may be the same (repeated roots); they may be real numbers (e.) or what are known as complex numbers • The roots can be obtained either by factorising the equation (contracting it into parentheses), by ‘completing the square’, or by using the formula: ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 8 The Roots of Quadratic Functions (Cont’d) • If b2 > 4ac, the function will have two unique roots and it will cross the x- axis in two separate places • If b2 = 4ac, the function will have two equal roots and it will only cross the x-axis in one place • If b2 < 4ac, the function will have no real roots (only complex roots), it will not cross the x-axis at all and thus the function will always be above the x-axis. ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 9 Calculating the Roots of Quadratics - Examples Determine the roots of the following quadratic equations: 1. y = x2 − 4x ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 10 Calculating the Roots of Quadratics - Solutions • We solve these equations by setting them in turn to zero • We could use the quadratic formula in each case, although it is usually quicker to determine first whether they factorise 1. x2 + x − 6 = 0 factorises to (x − 2)(x + 3) = 0 and thus the roots are 2 and −3, which are the values of x that set the function to zero.
In other words, the function will cross the x-axis at x = 2 and x = −3 2. 9x2 + 6x + 1 = 0 factorises to (3x + 1)(3x + 1) = 0 and thus the roots are −1/3 and −1/3. This is known as repeated roots – since this is a quadratic equation there will always be two roots but in this case they are both the same. ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 11 Calculating the Roots of Quadratics – Solutions Cont’d 3.
x2 − 3x + 1 = 0 does not factorise and so the formula must be used with a = 1, b = −3, c = 1 and the roots are 0.62 to two decimal places 4. x2 − 4x = 0 factorises to x(x − 4) = 0 and so the roots are 0 and 4. • All of these equations have two real roots • But if we had an equation such as y = 3x2 − 2x + 4, this would not factorise and would have complex roots since b2 − 4ac < 0 in the quadratic formula. ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 12 Powers of Number or of Variables • A number or variable raised to a power is simply a way of writing repeated multiplication • So for example, raising x to the power 2 means squaring it (i.
• Raising it to the power 3 means cubing it (x3 = x × x × x), and so on • The number that we are raising the number or variable to is called the index, so for x3, the index would be 3 ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 13 Manipulating Powers and their Indices • Any number or variable raised to the power one is simply that number or variable, e., 31 = 3, x1 = x, and so on • Any number or variable raised to the power zero is one, e., except that 00 is not defined (i., it does not exist) • If the index is a negative number, this means that we divide one by that number – for example, x−3 = 1/(x3) = 1/(x×x×x ) • If we want to multiply together a given number raised to more than one power, we would add the corresponding indices together – for example, • x2 × x3 = x2x3 = x2+3 = x5 • If we want to calculate the power of a variable raised to a power (i., the power of a power), we would multiply the indices together – for example, (x2)3 = x2×3 = x6 ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 14 Manipulating Powers and their Indices (Cont’d) • If we want to divide a variable raised to a power by the same variable raised to another power, we subtract the second index from the first – for example, x3 / x2 = x3−2 = x • If we want to divide a variable raised to a power by a different variable raised to the same power, the following result applies: (x / y)n = xn / yn • The power of a product is equal to each component raised to that power – for example, (x × y)3 = x3 × y3 • The indices for powers do not have to be integers, so x1/2 is the notation we would use for taking the square root of x, sometimes written √x • Other, non-integer powers are also possible, but are harder to calculate by hand (e.) • In general, x1/n = n√x ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 15 The Exponential Function, e • It is sometimes the case that the relationship between two variables is best described by an exponential function • For example, when a variable grows (or reduces) at a rate in proportion to its current value, we would write y = ex • e is a simply number: 2. • It is also useful for capturing the increase in value of an amount of money that is subject to compound interest • The exponential function can never be negative, so when x is negative, y is close to zero but positive • It crosses the y-axis at one and the slope increases at an increasing rate from left to right. ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 16 A Plot of the Exponential Function ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 17 Logarithms • Logarithms were invented to simplify cumbersome calculations, since exponents can then be added or subtracted, which is easier than multiplying or dividing the original numbers • There are at least three reasons why log transforms may be useful. Taking a logarithm can often help to rescale the data so that their variance is more constant, which overcomes a common statistical problem known as heteroscedasticity.
Logarithmic transforms can help to make a positively skewed distribution closer to a normal distribution. Taking logarithms can also be a way to make a non-linear, multiplicative relationship between variables into a linear, additive one. ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 18 How do Logs Work? • Consider the power relationship 23 = 8 • Using logarithms, we would write this as log28 = 3, or ‘the log to the base 2 of 8 is 3’ • Hence we could say that a logarithm is defined as the power to which the base must be raised to obtain the given number • More generally, if ab = c, then we can also write logac = b • If we plot a log function, y = log(x), it would cross the x-axis at one – see the following slide • It can be seen that as x increases, y increases at a slower rate, which is the opposite to an exponential function where y increases at a faster rate as x increases. ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 19 A Graph of a Log Function ‘Introductory Econometrics for Finance’ © Chris Brooks 2013 20 How do Logs Work?