8Applied Mathematics for Personal Finance provides a general introduction to the ways that mathematics can be applied to personal financial decision-making. This book is suitable for college students with no previous background in economics or finance; only familiarity with high school algebra is assumed. This book demonstrates how you can utilize math skills you already know in application areas that may be unfamiliar; it also introduces some new math skills that you can apply to familiar problems. The book emphasizes the development and application of the economic life-cycle model as the framework for evaluating all of your personal financial decisions. Economists, including six Nobel Laureates, have spent close to a century developing the concept of life-cycle consumption smoothing. "Smoothing" refers to the need to spread your economic resources over your lifetime, taking into account that your future is highly uncertain.