# How maths killed Lehman Brothers

By Murray Bourne, 06 Jul 2009

Plus magazine, from maths.org recently announced the results of the New Writers Award 2009. The winning articles include Beauty in mathematics, The expression that (nearly) explained the Universe, Thinking outside the box (traveling through higher dimensions) and The Carol syndrome (the curse of attractiveness).

Horatio Boedihardjo was a winner in the university category with his neat article How maths killed Lehman Brothers. It contains clear explanations on credit default swaps and the like.

Horatio enrolled at Oxford University as a maths undergraduate when he was 15 and is currently studying for a doctorate in probability.

### 2 Comments on “How maths killed Lehman Brothers”

1. Li-sa says:

After looking at his picture, I realized that Horatio was the elder brother of March Boedihardjo, the nine-year-old HKBU student who made headlines in Hong Kong in 2007.

2. Murray says:

Thanks for the info, Li-sa. Good to hear from you!

### Comment Preview

HTML: You can use simple tags like <b>, <a href="...">, etc.

To enter math, you can can either:

1. Use simple calculator-like input in the following format (surround your math in backticks, or qq on tablet or phone):
a^2 = sqrt(b^2 + c^2)
(See more on ASCIIMath syntax); or
2. Use simple LaTeX in the following format. Surround your math with $$ and $$.
$$\int g dx = \sqrt{\frac{a}{b}}$$
(This is standard simple LaTeX.)

NOTE: You can't mix both types of math entry in your comment.