Python for Finance

Python Basics
In the preceding codes, ** means a power function. For example, 2**3 has a value
of 8. To view the value of a variable, we simply type its name; see the previous
example. The formula used is given here:
Here, FV is the future value, PV is the present value, R is the period deposit rate
while n is the number of periods. In this case, R is the annual rate of 0.015 while n is
3. At the moment, readers should focus on simple Python concepts and operations.
In Chapter 3, Time Value of Money, this formula will be explained in detail. Since
Python is case-sensitive, an error message will pop up if we type PV instead of pv;
see the following code:
>>>PV
NameError: name 'PV' is not defined
>>>Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
Unlike some languages, such as C and FORTRAN, for Python a new variable does
not need to be defined before a value is assigned to it. To show all variables or
function, we use the dir() function:
>>>dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'pv']
>>>
To find out all built-in functions, we type dir(__builtings__). The output is
shown here:
[ 8 ]