Matthew Graham's MBA Blog

Six Years for Fastow

2006-09-26T14:37:00.000-04:00

No closure yet for victims of the Enron debacle, but perhaps some solace in the conviction of former CFO Andrew Fastow. Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B69CC1EA2%2D47FE%2D4061%2DAB7D%2DDF06AA0ECE97%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=bnb.

Rinse, Wash, Repeat

2006-09-26T01:23:00.005-04:00

Good preparation for i-banking.

Technorati

2006-09-20T15:20:00.000-04:00

Technorati Profile

Simon Wireless Connection

2006-09-20T14:44:00.000-04:00

WTF?! Get it fixed!

DHL

2006-09-20T13:43:00.000-04:00

I'm sure some of you at the DHL company are very friendly, nice, etc. But I truly hope that your firm goes out of business. Why can't you just leave my book for me? Why do you insist that I sign for it? I appreciate that you have a company policy but it's my book and I want you to leave it for me! Nice chatting with you today for two hours. I really love your holding music by the way. No I still don't want to go to your fugazy delivery center in the middle of nowhere to pick up my book. If I wanted to pick up a book I wouldn't have bought it online. Have a nice day.

TA Translation

2006-09-20T13:40:00.000-04:00

I'm sure my TA is very smart, but I can't understand a word he is saying. I feel like I'm back in my undergrad statistics class!

Continuously Compounded Interest Formula and Calculator

2006-09-20T10:33:00.001-04:00

http://www.moneychimp.com/articles/finworks/continuous_compounding.htm

Matt Loves

2006-09-20T09:18:00.001-04:00

Microsoft long and crude oil short! (trading is risky, I'm not your advisor, don't sue me, etc.)

Why Debit and Credit?

2006-09-20T09:07:00.000-04:00

Debit (from the Latin word debere) means “left." Credit (from the Latin word credere) means “right. Screw the Romans.

Par Value

2006-09-20T09:03:00.000-04:00

Is there any point to this concept? Seems like the accounting equivalent of the Kansas City Royals. Incidentally, IBM stock, currently trading in the 80's, has a par value of twenty cents. Useless.

Birthday Problem

2006-09-20T01:01:00.000-04:00

How likely is it that two or more people in your class have the same birthday?

A formula to accompany the Birthday Problem
Let's look at the probabilities a step at a time.

For one person, there are 365 distinct birthdays.
For two people, there are 364 different ways that the second could have a birthday without matching the first.
If there is no match after two people, the third person has 363 different birthdays that do not match the other two. So, the probability of a match is 1 - (365)(364)(363)/(365)(365)(365).
This leads to the following formula for calculating the probability of a match with N birthdays is 1 - (365)(364)(363)...(365 - N + 1)/(365)^N.
Running this through a computer gives the chart below. Notice that a probability of over .5 is obtained after 23 dates!

Notice that the probability is above .9
before the sample size reaches even 45.

Why do I find this so interesting? I feel like I should take note of my interest in probability as I explore careers.

MBA Math and Spreadsheet Skills

2006-09-17T15:16:00.000-04:00

http://www.mbamath.com/

PC Magazine's Top 99 Undiscovered Web Sites

2006-09-17T13:34:00.000-04:00

PC Magazine's Top 99 Undiscovered Web Sites

Chronic Of Narnia

2006-09-17T11:04:00.000-04:00


Chris Parnell Andy Schmolla

Behind the Music- SNL Christopher Walken Blue Oyster Cult

2006-09-17T11:03:00.000-04:00


A true classic

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - Pt. 1

2006-09-17T10:58:00.000-04:00


The rise and fall of Enron - a must see!

Saturday Night Live (SNL) Clown Penis Commercial

2006-09-17T01:19:00.000-04:00


This is a SNL commercial about a firm that was slow to get a web presence, so they had to settle for clownpenis.fart, the only remaining available domain name.

OK, so this has nothing to do with my MBA program, but I found it really really funny. Don't judge me!