Illinois State University – Mathematics Department
Instructors
Mr. Rama Duvvuri, FCAS, MAAA
Actuary (Property Casualty)
State Farm Research Center
2001 South First Street, Suite 102
Champaign, IL 61820
Telephone: 309-735-1957
E-mail: rama.duvvuri.lcma@statefarm.com (work), ramaduvvuri@gmail.com (home)
Dr. Krzysztof Ostaszewski
FSA, CERA, FSAS, CFA, MAAA,
Actuarial Program Director
Office: Stevenson Hall, room 313G
Telephone: 309-438-7226, Fax: 309-438-5866
E-mail: krzysio@ilstu.edu
Classes Meet
Tuesdays 7:00-7:50, in Stevenson Hall, room 125.
We will use the website directly for a portion of the coursework.
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 and internet driven. The instructor will periodically hand out or e-mail study notes.
Objective
The primary objective of this class is to help you learn about how Excel and Access are actually used in actuarial practice.
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 final to be completed during the last class (you guessed it, also graded). If you so choose, your worst homework grade can be dropped with the value of said assignment being added to the comprehensive project. The homework assignments will be worth ten points a piece, except for the Excel review homework which will be worth twenty points. The comprehensive project will be worth fifty points and the final will be worth thirty points.Ê 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
- Tuesday, August 21, 2007. Introduction to course and overview of what will be covered. General guidelines for good spreadsheet design. Useful Excel functions and general Excel work.
- Tuesday, August 28, 2007. More useful Excel functions.
- Tuesday, September 4, 2007. Nested function work.
- Tuesday, September 11, 2007. Data analysis in Excel.
- Tuesday, September 18, 2007. This class will be rescheduled to accommodate the Meet the Firms event.
- Tuesday, September 25, 2007. More data analysis; intro. to user-defined functions.
- Tuesday, October 2, 2007. Excel macros and more user-defined functions.
- Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Excel review.
- Tuesday, October 16, 2007. Intro. to Access and basic data work therein.
- Tuesday, October 23, 2007. Simple queries in Access.
- Tuesday, October 30, 2007. Access macros: basic design and uses and more Access queries.
- Tuesday, November 6, 2007. Cross-application work and discuss comprehensive project.
- Tuesday, November 13, 2007. Review.
- Tuesday, November 27, 2007. Comprehensive project due; review for final.
- Tuesday, December 5, 2007. Final.
All information contained here is, to our best knowledge, correct, but it is merely a representation, and should not be considered to be any form of professional advice. This electronic publication should not be misconstrued as the official position of Illinois State University, or its Department of Mathematics. We are glad to provide as much information as possible here, but we kindly ask that in any decision related to matters listed here you seek additional counsel and information. Comments on this Home Page are welcome and should be sent to Dr. Krzysztof Ostaszewski at his e-mail address: krzysio@ilstu.edu.