A First Course in Stochastic Calculus


Book Description

A First Course in Stochastic Calculus is a complete guide for advanced undergraduate students to take the next step in exploring probability theory and for master's students in mathematical finance who would like to build an intuitive and theoretical understanding of stochastic processes. This book is also an essential tool for finance professionals who wish to sharpen their knowledge and intuition about stochastic calculus. Louis-Pierre Arguin offers an exceptionally clear introduction to Brownian motion and to random processes governed by the principles of stochastic calculus. The beauty and power of the subject are made accessible to readers with a basic knowledge of probability, linear algebra, and multivariable calculus. This is achieved by emphasizing numerical experiments using elementary Python coding to build intuition and adhering to a rigorous geometric point of view on the space of random variables. This unique approach is used to elucidate the properties of Gaussian processes, martingales, and diffusions. One of the book's highlights is a detailed and self-contained account of stochastic calculus applications to option pricing in finance. Louis-Pierre Arguin's masterly introduction to stochastic calculus seduces the reader with its quietly conversational style; even rigorous proofs seem natural and easy. Full of insights and intuition, reinforced with many examples, numerical projects, and exercises, this book by a prize-winning mathematician and great teacher fully lives up to the author's reputation. I give it my strongest possible recommendation. —Jim Gatheral, Baruch College I happen to be of a different persuasion, about how stochastic processes should be taught to undergraduate and MA students. But I have long been thinking to go against my own grain at some point and try to teach the subject at this level—together with its applications to finance—in one semester. Louis-Pierre Arguin's excellent and artfully designed text will give me the ideal vehicle to do so. —Ioannis Karatzas, Columbia University, New York




A First Course in Stochastic Processes


Book Description

The purpose, level, and style of this new edition conform to the tenets set forth in the original preface. The authors continue with their tack of developing simultaneously theory and applications, intertwined so that they refurbish and elucidate each other. The authors have made three main kinds of changes. First, they have enlarged on the topics treated in the first edition. Second, they have added many exercises and problems at the end of each chapter. Third, and most important, they have supplied, in new chapters, broad introductory discussions of several classes of stochastic processes not dealt with in the first edition, notably martingales, renewal and fluctuation phenomena associated with random sums, stationary stochastic processes, and diffusion theory.




Introduction to Stochastic Calculus with Applications


Book Description

This book presents a concise treatment of stochastic calculus and its applications. It gives a simple but rigorous treatment of the subject including a range of advanced topics, it is useful for practitioners who use advanced theoretical results. It covers advanced applications, such as models in mathematical finance, biology and engineering.Self-contained and unified in presentation, the book contains many solved examples and exercises. It may be used as a textbook by advanced undergraduates and graduate students in stochastic calculus and financial mathematics. It is also suitable for practitioners who wish to gain an understanding or working knowledge of the subject. For mathematicians, this book could be a first text on stochastic calculus; it is good companion to more advanced texts by a way of examples and exercises. For people from other fields, it provides a way to gain a working knowledge of stochastic calculus. It shows all readers the applications of stochastic calculus methods and takes readers to the technical level required in research and sophisticated modelling.This second edition contains a new chapter on bonds, interest rates and their options. New materials include more worked out examples in all chapters, best estimators, more results on change of time, change of measure, random measures, new results on exotic options, FX options, stochastic and implied volatility, models of the age-dependent branching process and the stochastic Lotka-Volterra model in biology, non-linear filtering in engineering and five new figures.Instructors can obtain slides of the text from the author.




Elementary Stochastic Calculus with Finance in View


Book Description

Modelling with the Ito integral or stochastic differential equations has become increasingly important in various applied fields, including physics, biology, chemistry and finance. However, stochastic calculus is based on a deep mathematical theory. This book is suitable for the reader without a deep mathematical background. It gives an elementary introduction to that area of probability theory, without burdening the reader with a great deal of measure theory. Applications are taken from stochastic finance. In particular, the Black -- Scholes option pricing formula is derived. The book can serve as a text for a course on stochastic calculus for non-mathematicians or as elementary reading material for anyone who wants to learn about Ito calculus and/or stochastic finance.




Stochastic Calculus and Financial Applications


Book Description

Stochastic calculus has important applications to mathematical finance. This book will appeal to practitioners and students who want an elementary introduction to these areas. From the reviews: "As the preface says, ‘This is a text with an attitude, and it is designed to reflect, wherever possible and appropriate, a prejudice for the concrete over the abstract’. This is also reflected in the style of writing which is unusually lively for a mathematics book." --ZENTRALBLATT MATH




Adventures in Stochastic Processes


Book Description

Stochastic processes are necessary ingredients for building models of a wide variety of phenomena exhibiting time varying randomness. This text offers easy access to this fundamental topic for many students of applied sciences at many levels. It includes examples, exercises, applications, and computational procedures. It is uniquely useful for beginners and non-beginners in the field. No knowledge of measure theory is presumed.




Essentials of Stochastic Processes


Book Description

Building upon the previous editions, this textbook is a first course in stochastic processes taken by undergraduate and graduate students (MS and PhD students from math, statistics, economics, computer science, engineering, and finance departments) who have had a course in probability theory. It covers Markov chains in discrete and continuous time, Poisson processes, renewal processes, martingales, and option pricing. One can only learn a subject by seeing it in action, so there are a large number of examples and more than 300 carefully chosen exercises to deepen the reader’s understanding. Drawing from teaching experience and student feedback, there are many new examples and problems with solutions that use TI-83 to eliminate the tedious details of solving linear equations by hand, and the collection of exercises is much improved, with many more biological examples. Originally included in previous editions, material too advanced for this first course in stochastic processes has been eliminated while treatment of other topics useful for applications has been expanded. In addition, the ordering of topics has been improved; for example, the difficult subject of martingales is delayed until its usefulness can be applied in the treatment of mathematical finance.




Brownian Motion, Martingales, and Stochastic Calculus


Book Description

This book offers a rigorous and self-contained presentation of stochastic integration and stochastic calculus within the general framework of continuous semimartingales. The main tools of stochastic calculus, including Itô’s formula, the optional stopping theorem and Girsanov’s theorem, are treated in detail alongside many illustrative examples. The book also contains an introduction to Markov processes, with applications to solutions of stochastic differential equations and to connections between Brownian motion and partial differential equations. The theory of local times of semimartingales is discussed in the last chapter. Since its invention by Itô, stochastic calculus has proven to be one of the most important techniques of modern probability theory, and has been used in the most recent theoretical advances as well as in applications to other fields such as mathematical finance. Brownian Motion, Martingales, and Stochastic Calculus provides a strong theoretical background to the reader interested in such developments. Beginning graduate or advanced undergraduate students will benefit from this detailed approach to an essential area of probability theory. The emphasis is on concise and efficient presentation, without any concession to mathematical rigor. The material has been taught by the author for several years in graduate courses at two of the most prestigious French universities. The fact that proofs are given with full details makes the book particularly suitable for self-study. The numerous exercises help the reader to get acquainted with the tools of stochastic calculus.




Introduction to Stochastic Processes


Book Description

Emphasizing fundamental mathematical ideas rather than proofs, Introduction to Stochastic Processes, Second Edition provides quick access to important foundations of probability theory applicable to problems in many fields. Assuming that you have a reasonable level of computer literacy, the ability to write simple programs, and the access to software for linear algebra computations, the author approaches the problems and theorems with a focus on stochastic processes evolving with time, rather than a particular emphasis on measure theory. For those lacking in exposure to linear differential and difference equations, the author begins with a brief introduction to these concepts. He proceeds to discuss Markov chains, optimal stopping, martingales, and Brownian motion. The book concludes with a chapter on stochastic integration. The author supplies many basic, general examples and provides exercises at the end of each chapter. New to the Second Edition: Expanded chapter on stochastic integration that introduces modern mathematical finance Introduction of Girsanov transformation and the Feynman-Kac formula Expanded discussion of Itô's formula and the Black-Scholes formula for pricing options New topics such as Doob's maximal inequality and a discussion on self similarity in the chapter on Brownian motion Applicable to the fields of mathematics, statistics, and engineering as well as computer science, economics, business, biological science, psychology, and engineering, this concise introduction is an excellent resource both for students and professionals.




Brownian Motion and Stochastic Calculus


Book Description

A graduate-course text, written for readers familiar with measure-theoretic probability and discrete-time processes, wishing to explore stochastic processes in continuous time. The vehicle chosen for this exposition is Brownian motion, which is presented as the canonical example of both a martingale and a Markov process with continuous paths. In this context, the theory of stochastic integration and stochastic calculus is developed, illustrated by results concerning representations of martingales and change of measure on Wiener space, which in turn permit a presentation of recent advances in financial economics. The book contains a detailed discussion of weak and strong solutions of stochastic differential equations and a study of local time for semimartingales, with special emphasis on the theory of Brownian local time. The whole is backed by a large number of problems and exercises.




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