The University of Chicago has created a research center to study the use of higher mathematics in the world of finance.

The Research Center for Financial Mathematics will host workshops, lecture series and conferences on campus, and maintain an active visitors program through which researchers from both academia and the financial industry will visit the university.

The center will also offer research facilities and support in an effort to attract young researchers to the university.

The university believes the center - a collaboration between its departments of mathematics, economics and statistics - is the first of its kind.