Book excerpt: The American Heritage Dictionary of Business Terms covers the entire spectrum of business terminology. In clear language it defines over 6,000 terms drawn from the areas of investing, finance, marketing, law, real estate, management, economics, accounting, insurance, and international business. Entries range from investment fundamentals (price-earnings ratio, split, yield) to the lexicon of real estate (amortization, buy down, wraparound mortgage) to the terminology of contemporary finance (CDO, short sale, tranche). More than 100 key terms, such as antitrust, bailout, and subprime loan, are enhanced by real-world case studies that bring the concept to life. In addition, scores of tips from expert professionals offer advice on topics ranging from renegotiating a mortgage to reducing the estate tax.