on 30-Jul-2017 (Sun)

Suppose the question is “What is the probability that the stock earns a return above the risk-free rate (event A)?” The answer is an unconditional probability that can be viewed as the ratio of two quantities. The numerator is the sum of the probabilities of stock returns above the risk-free rate. Suppose that sum is 0.70. The denominator is 1, the sum of the probabilities of all possible returns. The answer to the question is P(A) = 0.70.

Now suppose we want to know the probability that the stock earns a return above the risk-free rate (event A), given that the stock earns a positive return (event B). With the words “given that,” we are restricting returns to those larger than 0 percent—a new element in contrast to the question that brought forth an unconditional probability. The conditional probability is calculated as the ratio of two quantities. The numerator is the sum of the probabilities of stock returns above the risk-free rate; in this particular case, the numerator is the same as it was in the unconditional case, which we gave as 0.70. The denominator, however, changes from 1 to the sum of the probabilities for all outcomes (returns) above 0 percent. Suppose that number is 0.80, a larger number than 0.70 because returns between 0 and the risk-free rate have some positive probability of occurring. Then P(A | B) = 0.70/0.80 = 0.875. If we observe that the stock earns a positive return, the probability of a return above the risk-free rate is greater than the unconditional probability, which is the probability of the event given no other information.

An important attribute of the standard deviation as a measure of spread is that if the mean and standard deviation of a normal distribution are known, it is possible to compute the percentile rank associated with any given score.

Chebyshev’s inequality holds for samples and populations and for discrete and continuous data regardless of the shape of the distribution.

Antitrust laws prohibit a variety of practices that restrain trade. like price-fixing conspiracies, corporate mergers likely to reduce the competitive vigor of particular markets, and predatory acts designed to achieve or maintain monopoly power.

The conditional probability of an event may be greater than, equal to, or less than the unconditional probability, depending on the facts.

To find a box-and-whisker plot of order data we find the median and, to divide the data into quarters, we then find the medians of these two halves.

There is no doubt that mnemonic techniques are one of the most important methods and methodologies used in education. However, nowadays these methods seem to be unremembered and seldom used by teachers or students.

China has successfully produced natural gas from methane hydrate, also known as “flammable ice”, in an experimental project in the South China Sea

Flammable ice consists of methane trapped within water crystals, and has been identified as a potential new gas source for China, with the South China Sea thought to contain some of the world’s most promising deposits.

Officially known as methane clathrates or hydrates, they are formed at very low temperatures and under high pressure. They can be found in sediments under the ocean floor as well as underneath permafrost on land

By lowering the pressure or raising the temperature, the hydrates break down into water and methane – a lot of methane. One cubic metre of the compound releases about 160 cubic metres of gas, making it a highly energy-intensive fuel.

Vast deposits exist basically underneath all oceans around the the globe, especially on the edge of continental shelves

Accessing the power of this flammable ice has been difficult, for two reasons.

• First, these reserves are often distributed over a large area rather than concentrated in one spot as oil or natural gas reserves often are.
• The bigger problem, however, is that, true to their moniker as flammable ice, methane hydrates are unstable and potentially explosive. Drilling into the seafloor could destabilize the methane ice crystals and cause explosions, spewing vast troves of methane into the atmosphere, where it is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2).

The Akash missile is India’s first indigenously designed, developed and produced air defence surface-to-air missile system. Akash is a supersonic short range surface-to-air missile capable of neutralising aerial threats.

• The asset of this missile system is its capability to neutralise multiple aerial targets coming from different directions at the same time.
• The maximum range of this missile is 25 kilometres and can neutralise targets at a maximum altitude of 20 kilometres. It is meant for neutralising medium range air targets flying at low or medium height.
• Akash has been indigenously built. It is a result of 96% indigenisation, with the design being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and built by Bharat Dynamics Limited along with the involvement of Bharat Electronics Limited.

About BBPS:

• The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an RBI conceptualised system driven by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It is a one-stop payment platform for all bills, providing an interoperable and accessible “Anytime Anywhere” bill payment service to customers across the country with certainty, reliability and safety of transactions.

Payments through BBPS may be made using cash, transfer cheques and electronic modes. Bill aggregators and banks, who will function as operating units, will carry out these transactions for the customers.

Although the mnemonic devices are not an educational panacea, they can play an important part in improving memory for learning or teaching processes

Enhanced discrimination (learning to differentiate the various types of problems) is not the only explanation for the interleaving advantage. During interleaved practice, switching among different problem types may strengthen the association between a problem type and its strategy, which promotes successful problem solving. With blocked practice, on the contrary, as all the problems require the same strategy, the student needs only focus on executing a given strategy repeatedly, which might not be as effective in reinforcing the association between a problem type and its strategy

the instructors taught the classes as they normally would have—the topics covered, the lecture content, and the assessments generally remained the same—suggesting that a radical overhaul of teaching practice may not be necessary. Something as simple as reorganizing the homework assign- ments may be sufficient to produce sizable gains

Lankshear broaden the notion of discourse to encompass all aspects of what we usually call ‘culture’: “A Discourse is composed of ways of talking, listening, reading,

Lankshear broaden the notion of discourse to encompass all aspects of what we usually call ‘culture’: “A Discourse is composed of ways of talking, listening, reading, writing, acting, interacting, believing, valuing, and using tools and objects, in particular settings and at specific times, so as to display or to recognize a particular social identity”

The empirical rule states that for a normal distribution, nearly all of the data will fall within three standard deviations of the mean. The empirical rule can be broken down into three parts: 68% of data falls within the first standard deviation from the mean. 95% fall within two standard deviations.

The Treynor ratio, also known as the reward-to-volatility ratio, is a metric for returns that exceed those that might have been gained on a risk-less investment, per each unit of market risk. The Treynor ratio, developed by Jack Treynor, is calculated as follows:

(Average Return of a Portfolio – Average Return of the Risk-Free Rate)/Beta of the Portfolio

Ex-ante, derived from the Latin for "before the event," is a term that refers to future events, such as future returns or prospects of a company. Ex-ante analysis helps to give an idea of future movements in price or the future impact of a newly implemented policy.

An example of ex-ante analysis is when an investment company values a stock ex ante and then compares the predicted results to the actual movement of the stock's price.

if the mean and standard deviation of a normal distribution are known, it is possible to compute the percentile rank associated with any given score.

before applying the Sharpe ratio to evaluate a manager, we should judge whether standard deviation adequately describes the risk of the manager’s investment strategy.

dependent: the occurrence of one is related to the probability of the occurrence of the other.