On the humanity of mathematical models

November 19, 2012

A great deal of care is spent designing our algorithms and models at Wealthfront. The work of Qian Liu and others is put through trial runs against historical data, peer reviewed by members of the company, and vetted by outside advisors in the academic and private sectors. Along with Dr. Malkiel, we also work with Paul Pfleiderer, C.O.G. Miller Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and others. Even with our enormous effort and expert consultations, we know we can never stop improving. We’ve already revised our models more than once, and we will continue to do so.

We recently published a piece on TechCrunch entitled “Human After All: Why Nate Silver’s Math Revolution Won’t Kill The Pundits.” It discusses the use of mathematical modeling, the pitfalls of human bias, and the sudden evolution of expert advice. We hope you’ll give it a read.