Mathematics 289.24, Spring 2004

Illinois State University Mathematics Department

Instructors
Mr. Chris Clark, FSA, EA, MAAA
Actuary (Pension & ALM)
State Farm Insurance Companies
One State Farm Plaza, B-1
Bloomington, IL  61710
Telephone: 309-766-8979, Fax: 309-766-1862
E-mail: chris.clark.hh9q@statefarm.com
and
Dr. Krzysztof Ostaszewski, FSA, CFA, MAAA,
Actuarial ProgramDirector
Office: Stevenson Hall, room 313G.
Telephone: 309-438-7226, Fax: 928-244-1757
E-mail: krzysio@ilstu.edu

Classes Meet
Thursdays 6:00-7:50 (with a ten minute break), in Stevenson Hall, room 125.

Office Hours
Please call or e-mail for an appointment.

Textbooks
There will not be a textbook for this class as it will be largely lab driven.  The instructor will periodically hand out study notes (also to be available electronically).

Objective
The primary objective of this class is to help you learn about how Excel and Access are actually used in actuarial practice.  A limited amount of work with Word will also be required.

Grading
This course will consist primarily of project oriented work with work during each class (not graded), homework each work (graded), a comprehensive project given as the final homework assignment (graded), and a smaller project to be worked on in the last class (also graded).  If you so choose, your worst homework grade can be dropped with the value of said assignment being added to the small project (to be completed on the last day of class). The first six homework assignments will each be worth 1/12th of your grade.  The comprehensive project will be worth 1/3th of your grade and the small, final project will be worth 1/6th of your grade.  The grading scale will be as follows: 90% or better -- A, 80% to 90% -- B, 70% to 80% -- C, 60% to 70%-- D, below 60% -- F.  All work will be modeled on real-world actuarial practice.

Schedule of classes

·  Thursday, January 15, 2004.  Useful Excel functions and general Excel work.

·  Thursday, January 22, 2004.  Data analysis in Excel, nested function work, and an introduction to user-defined functions.

·  Thursday, January 29, 2004.  Excel macros and more user-defined functions.

·  Thursday, February 5, 2004.  Working with merge documents and Excel review.

·  Thursday, February 12, 2004.  Introduction to Access, basic data work and simple queries in Access.

·  Thursday, February 19, 2004.  Macros and more query work in Access.

·  Thursday, February 28, 2004.  Access review and multi-application project work.

·  Thursday, March 4, 2004. Review of comprehensive project assignment followed by final project (work on which must be completed by the end of class).