astronomy

Phelim Boyle

Phelim Boyle is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Phelim Boyle rather than just read about it. In short: Phelim P. Boyle (born 1941), is an Irish economist and distinguished professor and actuary, and a pioneer of quantitative finance.

Key takeaways

Phelim Boyle belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Phelim Boyle to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Phelim Boyle from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Phelim P. Boyle (born 1941), is an Irish economist and distinguished professor and actuary, and a pioneer of quantitative finance. He is best known for initiating the use of Monte Carlo methods in option pricing.

Biography Born on a farm in Lavey, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Phelim Boyle attended Dreenan School, Garron Tower and Queen's University Belfast (B.Sc.) He earned his M.Sc. in 1966 and PhD in 1970 applied mathematics, specialising in physics, from Trinity College, Dublin. He is a professor of finance in the Laurier School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. Until June 2006 he held the J Page R Wadsworth Chair at the University of Waterloo. He is the founder of the Master of Quantitative Finance (MQF) program there. Additional to his contributions to quantitative finance, he has published papers on actuarial science and demography. Together with his son, Feidhlim Boyle, he authored Derivatives: the Tools that Changed Finance. He continues to contribute in the area of quantitative finance. He has been awarded the Centennial Gold Medal of the International Actuarial Association, and was the recipient of the IAFE/SunGard Financial Engineer of the Year in 2005. In 2019, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Work Boyle is best known for initiating the use of Monte Carlo methods in option pricing. Other well-known contributions in the area of quantitative finance include the use of the Trinomial method to price options. His seminal work on Monte Carlo methods in option pricing facilitated the 1980s explosion in the world of derivatives.

Publications Boyle has authored and co-authored numerous articles. A selection:

Boyle, Phelim P. "Options: A Monte Carlo approach". Journal of Financial Economics 4.3 (1977): 323–338. Boyle, Phelim P. "A lattice framework for option pricing with two state variables". Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 23.1 (1988): 1–12. Boyle, Phelim P., Jeremy Evnine, and Stephen Gibbs. "Numerical evaluation of multivariate contingent claims". Review of Financial Studies 2.2 (1989): 241–250. Boyle, Phelim P., and Ton Vorst. "Option replication in discrete time with transaction costs". The Journal of Finance 47.1 (1992): 271–293. Boyle, Phelim, Mark Broadie, and Paul Glasserman. "Monte Carlo methods for security pricing". Journal of economic dynamics and control 21.8 (1997): 1267–1321.

See also List of University of Waterloo people

References

External links Phelim Boyle at the Mathematics Genealogy Project The Actuary Magazine: An Interview With Dr. Phelim Boyle Derivatives: The Tools That Changed Finance, thederivativesbook.com (Archived).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Phelim Boyle

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Phelim Boyle claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Phelim Boyle before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Phelim Boyle ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Phelim Boyle

In research: Phelim Boyle appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Phelim Boyle in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Phelim Boyle is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1941 births, Academic staff of Wilfrid Laurier University, Academic staff of the University of Waterloo, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Phelim Boyle outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Phelim Boyle in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Phelim Boyle means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Phelim Boyle out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Phelim Boyle in simple terms?

Phelim P. Boyle (born 1941), is an Irish economist and distinguished professor and actuary, and a pioneer of quantitative finance.

Why does Phelim Boyle matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Phelim Boyle?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Phelim Boyle.