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Optimal Stopping
In mathematics, the theory of optimal stopping or early stopping : (For French translation, secover storyin the July issue of ''Pour la Science'' (2009).) is concerned with the problem of choosing a time to take a particular action, in order to maximise an expected reward or minimise an expected cost. Optimal stopping problems can be found in areas of statistics, economics, and mathematical finance (related to the pricing of American options). A key example of an optimal stopping problem is the secretary problem. Optimal stopping problems can often be written in the form of a Bellman equation, and are therefore often solved using dynamic programming. Definition Discrete time case Stopping rule problems are associated with two objects: # A sequence of random variables X_1, X_2, \ldots, whose joint distribution is something assumed to be known # A sequence of 'reward' functions (y_i)_ which depend on the observed values of the random variables in 1: #: y_i=y_i (x_1, \ldots ,x ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Probability Measure
In mathematics, a probability measure is a real-valued function defined on a set of events in a probability space that satisfies measure properties such as ''countable additivity''. The difference between a probability measure and the more general notion of measure (which includes concepts like area or volume) is that a probability measure must assign value 1 to the entire probability space. Intuitively, the additivity property says that the probability assigned to the union of two disjoint events by the measure should be the sum of the probabilities of the events; for example, the value assigned to "1 or 2" in a throw of a dice should be the sum of the values assigned to "1" and "2". Probability measures have applications in diverse fields, from physics to finance and biology. Definition The requirements for a function \mu to be a probability measure on a probability space are that: * \mu must return results in the unit interval , 1 returning 0 for the empty set and 1 for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernoulli Distribution
In probability theory and statistics, the Bernoulli distribution, named after Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli,James Victor Uspensky: ''Introduction to Mathematical Probability'', McGraw-Hill, New York 1937, page 45 is the discrete probability distribution of a random variable which takes the value 1 with probability p and the value 0 with probability q = 1-p. Less formally, it can be thought of as a model for the set of possible outcomes of any single experiment that asks a yes–no question. Such questions lead to outcomes that are boolean-valued: a single bit whose value is success/ yes/true/ one with probability ''p'' and failure/no/ false/zero with probability ''q''. It can be used to represent a (possibly biased) coin toss where 1 and 0 would represent "heads" and "tails", respectively, and ''p'' would be the probability of the coin landing on heads (or vice versa where 1 would represent tails and ''p'' would be the probability of tails). In particular, unfair coins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variational Inequality
In mathematics, a variational inequality is an inequality involving a functional, which has to be solved for all possible values of a given variable, belonging usually to a convex set. The mathematical theory of variational inequalities was initially developed to deal with equilibrium problems, precisely the Signorini problem: in that model problem, the functional involved was obtained as the first variation of the involved potential energy. Therefore, it has a variational origin, recalled by the name of the general abstract problem. The applicability of the theory has since been expanded to include problems from economics, finance, optimization and game theory. History The first problem involving a variational inequality was the Signorini problem, posed by Antonio Signorini in 1959 and solved by Gaetano Fichera in 1963, according to the references and : the first papers of the theory were and , . Later on, Guido Stampacchia proved his generalization to the Lax–Milgram the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infinitesimal Generator (stochastic Processes)
In mathematics — specifically, in stochastic analysis — the infinitesimal generator of a Feller process (i.e. a continuous-time Markov process satisfying certain regularity conditions) is a Fourier multiplier operator that encodes a great deal of information about the process. The generator is used in evolution equations such as the Kolmogorov backward equation (which describes the evolution of statistics of the process); its ''L''2 Hermitian adjoint is used in evolution equations such as the Fokker–Planck equation (which describes the evolution of the probability density functions of the process). Definition General case For a Feller process (X_t)_ with Feller semigroup T=(T_t)_ and state space E we define the generator (A,D(A)) by :D(A)=\left\, :A f=\lim_ \frac, for any f\in D(A). Here C_(E) denotes the Banach space of continuous functions on E vanishing at infinity, equipped with the supremum norm, and T_t f(x)= \mathbb^x f(X_t)=\mathbb(f(X_t), X_0=x). In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poisson Random Measure
Let (E, \mathcal A, \mu) be some measure space with \sigma-finite measure \mu. The Poisson random measure with intensity measure \mu is a family of random variables \_ defined on some probability space (\Omega, \mathcal F, \mathrm) such that i) \forall A\in\mathcal,\quad N_A is a Poisson random variable with rate \mu(A). ii) If sets A_1,A_2,\ldots,A_n\in\mathcal don't intersect then the corresponding random variables from i) are mutually independent. iii) \forall\omega\in\Omega\;N_(\omega) is a measure on (E, \mathcal ) Existence If \mu\equiv 0 then N\equiv 0 satisfies the conditions i)–iii). Otherwise, in the case of finite measure \mu, given Z, a Poisson random variable with rate \mu(E), and X_, X_,\ldots, mutually independent random variables with distribution \frac, define N_(\omega) = \sum\limits_^ \delta_(\cdot) where \delta_(A) is a degenerate measure located in c. Then N will be a Poisson random measure. In the case \mu is not finite the measure N can be obtai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brownian Motion
Brownian motion, or pedesis (from grc, πήδησις "leaping"), is the random motion of particles suspended in a medium (a liquid or a gas). This pattern of motion typically consists of random fluctuations in a particle's position inside a fluid sub-domain, followed by a relocation to another sub-domain. Each relocation is followed by more fluctuations within the new closed volume. This pattern describes a fluid at thermal equilibrium, defined by a given temperature. Within such a fluid, there exists no preferential direction of flow (as in transport phenomena). More specifically, the fluid's overall linear and angular momenta remain null over time. The kinetic energies of the molecular Brownian motions, together with those of molecular rotations and vibrations, sum up to the caloric component of a fluid's internal energy (the equipartition theorem). This motion is named after the botanist Robert Brown, who first described the phenomenon in 1827, while looking throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stochastic Differential Equation
A stochastic differential equation (SDE) is a differential equation in which one or more of the terms is a stochastic process, resulting in a solution which is also a stochastic process. SDEs are used to model various phenomena such as stock prices or physical systems subject to thermal fluctuations. Typically, SDEs contain a variable which represents random white noise calculated as the derivative of Brownian motion or the Wiener process. However, other types of random behaviour are possible, such as jump processes. Random differential equations are conjugate to stochastic differential equations. Background Stochastic differential equations originated in the theory of Brownian motion, in the work of Albert Einstein and Smoluchowski. These early examples were linear stochastic differential equations, also called 'Langevin' equations after French physicist Langevin, describing the motion of a harmonic oscillator subject to a random force. The mathematical theory of stochasti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lévy Process
In probability theory, a Lévy process, named after the French mathematician Paul Lévy, is a stochastic process with independent, stationary increments: it represents the motion of a point whose successive displacements are random, in which displacements in pairwise disjoint time intervals are independent, and displacements in different time intervals of the same length have identical probability distributions. A Lévy process may thus be viewed as the continuous-time analog of a random walk. The most well known examples of Lévy processes are the Wiener process, often called the Brownian motion process, and the Poisson process. Further important examples include the Gamma process, the Pascal process, and the Meixner process. Aside from Brownian motion with drift, all other proper (that is, not deterministic) Lévy processes have discontinuous paths. All Lévy processes are additive processes. Mathematical definition A stochastic process X=\ is said to be a Lévy process if i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stefan Problem
In mathematics and its applications, particularly to phase transitions in matter, a Stefan problem is a particular kind of boundary value problem for a system of partial differential equations (PDE), in which the boundary between the phases can move with time. The classical Stefan problem aims to describe the evolution of the boundary between two phases of a material undergoing a phase change, for example the melting of a solid, such as ice to water. This is accomplished by solving heat equations in both regions, subject to given boundary and initial conditions. At the interface between the phases (in the classical problem) the temperature is set to the phase change temperature. To close the mathematical system a further equation, the Stefan condition, is required. This is an energy balance which defines the position of the moving interface. Note that this evolving boundary is an unknown (hyper-)surface; hence, Stefan problems are examples of free boundary problems. Analogous p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Boundary Problem
In mathematics, a free boundary problem (FB problem) is a partial differential equation to be solved for both an unknown function u and an unknown domain \Omega. The segment \Gamma of the boundary of \Omega which is not known at the outset of the problem is the free boundary. FBs arise in various mathematical models encompassing applications that ranges from physical to economical, financial and biological phenomena, where there is an extra effect of the medium. This effect is in general a qualitative change of the medium and hence an appearance of a phase transition: ice to water, liquid to crystal, buying to selling (assets), active to inactive (biology), blue to red (coloring games), disorganized to organized (self-organizing criticality). An interesting aspect of such a criticality is the so-called sandpile dynamic (or Internal DLA). The most classical example is the melting of ice: Given a block of ice, one can solve the heat equation given appropriate initial and boundary con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snell Envelope
The Snell envelope, used in stochastics and mathematical finance, is the smallest supermartingale dominating a stochastic process. The Snell envelope is named after James Laurie Snell. Definition Given a filtered probability space (\Omega,\mathcal,(\mathcal_t)_,\mathbb) and an absolutely continuous probability measure \mathbb \ll \mathbb then an adapted process U = (U_t)_ is the Snell envelope with respect to \mathbb of the process X = (X_t)_ if # U is a \mathbb-supermartingale # U dominates X, i.e. U_t \geq X_t \mathbb-almost surely for all times t \in ,T/math> # If V = (V_t)_ is a \mathbb-supermartingale which dominates X, then V dominates U. Construction Given a (discrete) filtered probability space (\Omega,\mathcal,(\mathcal_n)_^N,\mathbb) and an absolutely continuous probability measure \mathbb \ll \mathbb then the Snell envelope (U_n)_^N with respect to \mathbb of the process (X_n)_^N is given by the recursive scheme :U_N := X_N, :U_n := X_n \lor \mathbb^ _ \mid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
