Mihai Sirbu

Prof. Sirbu was a great man and good teacher but the material was rather difficult to learn in depth in the little time available. The material isn't hard to learn, the problem is the amount of concepts that need to be learned each week. I actually did every homework and got a 10/10 on almost every single one, I even did the questions that weren't assigned, I thought I was on top of the material but somehow got a below average grade on midterm and final. The curve was pretty harsh. I had never received less than a B in any math class but ended up with a C in this one :(

This class was rather challenging, given the amount of material to be covered in the short amount of time alloted. Also, I'm not that good with math, but I still struggled with this class, even though I had already taken Calculus in high school. Miahai was a good instructor, and he knew the material well, but he basically just lectured to the class, barely taking time to help those who did not understand the material. Also, with his thick accent, it was sometimes hard to understand what he was getting at or saying, and the language barrier was also a problem in his understanding of the student's questions. Obviously, I would recommend taking calculus, but if you aren't that good in math and need more attention from the professor, you might want to look for a different instructor.

This class has got to be the worse class I have ever taken. He lectures straight out of the book. The material is just ridiculous... honestly, you would NEVER do this kind of thing on the Street unless you have a PhD.

I've never had a problem in the math dept. and Prof. Sirbu is no exception. He's very approachable and wasn't condescending. He will stray from necessary topics in class every once in a while, but he tells you what you need to know for the exams. He's average, but only in the best way.

Weekly problem sets (always the hardest problems in the book) and weekly webwork (usually not too bad). Two midterms and a final(difficult but fair)

If you were disappointed with the mathematical shallowness of Financial Economics, then Discrete Time Models in Finance is for you. This class provides a very solid introduction to asset pricing in a way that is intuitive and mathematically rigorous. It does not require high level math nor previous experience with financial instruments. Everything is defined in very basic terms and taught from the ground up. In my opinion, this was the best class I have taken ever in my life. Mihai is a great teacher: he knows his stuff and can transmit it well. True, he is rather meek but this a virtue. He genuinely cares about his students as he is willing to re-teach material during office hours if he has to. As said in my review of his teaching ODE, Mihai is slightly on the generous side of fair when it comes to grading. But don't expect to slack off. Despite the elementary nature of the course, each concept builds on the previous one. The textbook, written by Steven Shreve -- a leader in the field of pricing theory -- was well chosen. It is well structured, simple, and weighs about a pound. Mihai takes care to follow it closely, which is another plus. If you miss class, you can always read the book. The course does go into continuous time theory near the end of the course, but not too deeply -- don't worry, it's not tested on the final. It gives you a glimpse into stochastic calculus and…

Overall Mihai is a good teacher. He's not spectacular but you learn the material well enough. He's pretty straight forward. I found it easier to pay attention to him than to read the book (book explanations are too long). It's true, you'll get bored listening to him but if you pay attention you'll pretty much learn whatever it is you need to do well on his tests. Always do the practice final exams and his practice problems to guarantee and A in his class. I think he's improved a lot in his teaching. I think the bad reviews are from people who doze off in class (which is semi easy to do unfortunately).

Problem sets with some difficult problems, midterm, final, fair grading

What a nice man. Professor Sirbu is thorough, moves at a reasonable pace, and explains concepts VERY clearly. If a concept is not clear, just ask him during class. Sometimes his in-class responses are limited (his classes are fairly content dense) but he is always willing to spend as much time as necessary during office hours to make sure you understand everything. Sirbu is very professional, so don't expect too many jokes during class. But, office hours reveal that he does have a sense of humor. Professors in the Math department tend to suck, but this man is very very good. Highly recommended for ODE. His Romanian accent is kind of funny. One downside, for some reason he loves greek symbols and uses them whenever he can. He used symbols I'd never seen before (one that literally looks like a squiggle!!!) Take ODE with this man, you'll like it!

Biweekly problem sets, one midterm and final, both of which are fair.