Timed tuplix calculus and the Wesseling and van den Bergh equation

We develop an algebraic framework for the description and analysis of financial behaviours, that is, behaviours that consist of transferring certain amounts of money at planned times. To a large extent, analysis of financial products amounts to analysis of such behaviours. We formalize the cumulative interest compliant conservation requirement for financial products proposed by Wesseling and van den Bergh by an equation in the framework developed and define a notion of financial product behaviour using this formalization. We also present some properties of financial product behaviours. The development of the framework has been influenced by previous work on the process algebra ACP.Comment: 17 pages; phrasing improved, references updated; substantially improved; remarks adde

Tuplix Calculus

We introduce a calculus for tuplices, which are expressions that generalize matrices and vectors. Tuplices have an underlying data type for quantities that are taken from a zero-totalized field. We start with the core tuplix calculus CTC for entries and tests, which are combined using conjunctive composition. We define a standard model and prove that CTC is relatively complete with respect to it. The core calculus is extended with operators for choice, information hiding, scalar multiplication, clearing and encapsulation. We provide two examples of applications; one on incremental financial budgeting, and one on modular financial budget design.Comment: 22 page

Square root meadows

Let Q_0 denote the rational numbers expanded to a meadow by totalizing inversion such that 0^{-1}=0. Q_0 can be expanded by a total sign function s that extracts the sign of a rational number. In this paper we discuss an extension Q_0(s ,\sqrt) of the signed rationals in which every number has a unique square root.Comment: 9 page

Differential Meadows

A meadow is a zero totalised field (0^{-1}=0), and a cancellation meadow is a meadow without proper zero divisors. In this paper we consider differential meadows, i.e., meadows equipped with differentiation operators. We give an equational axiomatization of these operators and thus obtain a finite basis for differential cancellation meadows. Using the Zariski topology we prove the existence of a differential cancellation meadow.Comment: 8 pages, 2 table

Bitcoin and Islamic Finance

It is argued that a Bitcoin-style money-like informational commodity may constitute an effective instrument for the further development of Islamic Finance. The argument involves the following elements: (i) an application of circulation theory to Bitcoin with the objective to establish the implausibility of interest payment in connection with Bitcoin, (ii) viewing a Bitcoin-like system as a money-like exclusively informational commodity with the implication that such a system need not support debt, (iii) the idea that Islamic Finance imposes different requirements compared to conventional financial policies on a money concerning its use as a tool for achieving social and economic objectives, and (iv) identification of two aspects of mining, gambling and lack of trust, that may both be considered problematic from the perspective of compliance with the rules of Islamic Finance and a corresponding proposal to modify the architecture of mining in order to improve compliance with these rules

Division by zero in non-involutive meadows

Meadows have been proposed as alternatives for fields with a purely equational axiomatization. At the basis of meadows lies the decision to make the multiplicative inverse operation total by imposing that the multiplicative inverse of zero is zero. Thus, the multiplicative inverse operation of a meadow is an involution. In this paper, we study `non-involutive meadows', i.e.\ variants of meadows in which the multiplicative inverse of zero is not zero, and pay special attention to non-involutive meadows in which the multiplicative inverse of zero is one.Comment: 14 page

Straight-line instruction sequence completeness for total calculation on cancellation meadows

A combination of program algebra with the theory of meadows is designed leading to a theory of computation in algebraic structures which use in addition to a zero test and copying instructions the instruction set $\{x \Leftarrow 0, x \Leftarrow 1, x\Leftarrow -x, x\Leftarrow x^{-1}, x\Leftarrow x+y, x\Leftarrow x\cdot y\}$. It is proven that total functions on cancellation meadows can be computed by straight-line programs using at most 5 auxiliary variables. A similar result is obtained for signed meadows.Comment: 24 page