The candidate should be able to explain and demonstrate the use of time value of money, data collection and analysis, elementary statistics, probability theory, and probability distribution theory in financial decision-making.

The quantitative concepts and applications that follow are fundamental to financial analysis and are used throughout the CFA Program curriculum. Quantitative methods are used widely in securities and risk analysis and in corporate finance to value capital projects and select investments. Descriptive statistics provide the tools to characterize and assess risk and return and other important financial or economic variables. Probability theory supports investment and risk decision making in the presence of uncertainty.