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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] |
Stochastics
Stochastic (, ) refers to the property of being well described by a random probability distribution. Although stochasticity and randomness are distinct in that the former refers to a modeling approach and the latter refers to phenomena themselves, these two terms are often used synonymously. Furthermore, in probability theory, the formal concept of a ''stochastic process'' is also referred to as a ''random process''. Stochasticity is used in many different fields, including the natural sciences such as biology, chemistry, ecology, neuroscience, and physics, as well as technology and engineering fields such as image processing, signal processing, information theory, computer science, cryptography, and telecommunications. It is also used in finance, due to seemingly random changes in financial markets as well as in medicine, linguistics, music, media, colour theory, botany, manufacturing, and geomorphology. Etymology The word ''stochastic'' in English was originally used as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Finance
Mathematical finance, also known as quantitative finance and financial mathematics, is a field of applied mathematics, concerned with mathematical modeling of financial markets. In general, there exist two separate branches of finance that require advanced quantitative techniques: derivatives pricing on the one hand, and risk and portfolio management on the other. Mathematical finance overlaps heavily with the fields of computational finance and financial engineering. The latter focuses on applications and modeling, often by help of stochastic asset models, while the former focuses, in addition to analysis, on building tools of implementation for the models. Also related is quantitative investing, which relies on statistical and numerical models (and lately machine learning) as opposed to traditional fundamental analysis when managing portfolios. French mathematician Louis Bachelier's doctoral thesis, defended in 1900, is considered the first scholarly work on mathematical fina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martingale (probability Theory)
In probability theory, a martingale is a sequence of random variables (i.e., a stochastic process) for which, at a particular time, the conditional expectation of the next value in the sequence is equal to the present value, regardless of all prior values. History Originally, '' martingale'' referred to a class of betting strategies that was popular in 18th-century France. The simplest of these strategies was designed for a game in which the gambler wins their stake if a coin comes up heads and loses it if the coin comes up tails. The strategy had the gambler double their bet after every loss so that the first win would recover all previous losses plus win a profit equal to the original stake. As the gambler's wealth and available time jointly approach infinity, their probability of eventually flipping heads approaches 1, which makes the martingale betting strategy seem like a sure thing. However, the exponential growth of the bets eventually bankrupts its users due to f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stochastic Process
In probability theory and related fields, a stochastic () or random process is a mathematical object usually defined as a family of random variables. Stochastic processes are widely used as mathematical models of systems and phenomena that appear to vary in a random manner. Examples include the growth of a bacterial population, an electrical current fluctuating due to thermal noise, or the movement of a gas molecule. Stochastic processes have applications in many disciplines such as biology, chemistry, ecology, neuroscience, physics, image processing, signal processing, control theory, information theory, computer science, cryptography and telecommunications. Furthermore, seemingly random changes in financial markets have motivated the extensive use of stochastic processes in finance. Applications and the study of phenomena have in turn inspired the proposal of new stochastic processes. Examples of such stochastic processes include the Wiener process or Brownian motion process, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Laurie Snell
James Laurie Snell, often cited as J. Laurie Snell, (January 15, 1925 in Wheaton, Illinois – March 19, 2011 in Hanover, New Hampshire) was an American mathematician. Biography J. Laurie Snell was the son of Roy Snell, an adventure author, and Lucille, a concert pianist. Lucille taught the three sons (Jud, John and Laurie) to play piano, cello, and violin. The family had a life-lease on a cabin in Isle Royale National Park where they would go for summer holidays. Graduate work Snell studied mathematics at the University of Illinois with Joseph L. Doob from 1948 through 1951; Doob introduced him to martingales, an aspect of probability theory. Doob assigned such topics by having students attempt to solve a series of problems that he kept on file cards.J.L. Snell (2005) "Obituary: Joseph L. Doob", Journal of Applied Probability 42(1): 247–56 Snell earned his Ph.D. in 1951 ("Applications of Martingale System Theorems"), with Doob as his supervisor. Dartmouth College At Dartmo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filtered Probability Space
Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter medium are described as ''oversize'' and the fluid that passes through is called the ''filtrate''. Oversize particles may form a filter cake on top of the filter and may also block the filter lattice, preventing the fluid phase from crossing the filter, known as ''blinding''. The size of the largest particles that can successfully pass through a filter is called the effective ''pore size'' of that filter. The separation of solid and fluid is imperfect; solids will be contaminated with some fluid and filtrate will contain fine particles (depending on the pore size, filter thickness and biological activity). Filtration occurs both in nature and in engineered systems; there are biological, geological, and industrial forms. Filtration is also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Absolutely Continuous
In calculus, absolute continuity is a smoothness property of functions that is stronger than continuity and uniform continuity. The notion of absolute continuity allows one to obtain generalizations of the relationship between the two central operations of calculus— differentiation and integration. This relationship is commonly characterized (by the fundamental theorem of calculus) in the framework of Riemann integration, but with absolute continuity it may be formulated in terms of Lebesgue integration. For real-valued functions on the real line, two interrelated notions appear: absolute continuity of functions and absolute continuity of measures. These two notions are generalized in different directions. The usual derivative of a function is related to the '' Radon–Nikodym derivative'', or ''density'', of a measure. We have the following chains of inclusions for functions over a compact subset of the real line: : ''absolutely continuous'' ⊆ ''uniformly continuous'' = ''cont ... [...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] |
Adapted Process
In the study of stochastic processes, an adapted process (also referred to as a non-anticipating or non-anticipative process) is one that cannot "see into the future". An informal interpretation is that ''X'' is adapted if and only if, for every realisation and every ''n'', ''Xn'' is known at time ''n''. The concept of an adapted process is essential, for instance, in the definition of the Itō integral, which only makes sense if the integrand is an adapted process. Definition Let * (\Omega, \mathcal, \mathbb) be a probability space; * I be an index set with a total order \leq (often, I is \mathbb, \mathbb_0, , T/math> or filtration of the sigma algebra \mathcal; * (S,\Sigma) be a measurable space, the ''state space''; * X: I \times \Omega \to S be a stochastic process. The process X is said to be adapted to the filtration \left(\mathcal_i\right)_ if the random variable X_i: \Omega \to S is a (\mathcal_i, \Sigma)-measurable function for each i \in I. Examples Consider a stochastic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Almost Surely
In probability theory, an event is said to happen almost surely (sometimes abbreviated as a.s.) if it happens with probability 1 (or Lebesgue measure 1). In other words, the set of possible exceptions may be non-empty, but it has probability 0. The concept is analogous to the concept of "almost everywhere" in measure theory. In probability experiments on a finite sample space, there is no difference between ''almost surely'' and ''surely'' (since having a probability of 1 often entails including all the sample points). However, this distinction becomes important when the sample space is an infinite set, because an infinite set can have non-empty subsets of probability 0. Some examples of the use of this concept include the strong and uniform versions of the law of large numbers, and the continuity of the paths of Brownian motion. The terms almost certainly (a.c.) and almost always (a.a.) are also used. Almost never describes the opposite of ''almost surely'': an event that h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Absolutely Continuous
In calculus, absolute continuity is a smoothness property of functions that is stronger than continuity and uniform continuity. The notion of absolute continuity allows one to obtain generalizations of the relationship between the two central operations of calculus— differentiation and integration. This relationship is commonly characterized (by the fundamental theorem of calculus) in the framework of Riemann integration, but with absolute continuity it may be formulated in terms of Lebesgue integration. For real-valued functions on the real line, two interrelated notions appear: absolute continuity of functions and absolute continuity of measures. These two notions are generalized in different directions. The usual derivative of a function is related to the '' Radon–Nikodym derivative'', or ''density'', of a measure. We have the following chains of inclusions for functions over a compact subset of the real line: : ''absolutely continuous'' ⊆ ''uniformly continuous'' = ''cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Join And Meet
In mathematics, specifically order theory, the join of a subset S of a partially ordered set P is the supremum (least upper bound) of S, denoted \bigvee S, and similarly, the meet of S is the infimum (greatest lower bound), denoted \bigwedge S. In general, the join and meet of a subset of a partially ordered set need not exist. Join and meet are dual to one another with respect to order inversion. A partially ordered set in which all pairs have a join is a join-semilattice. Dually, a partially ordered set in which all pairs have a meet is a meet-semilattice. A partially ordered set that is both a join-semilattice and a meet-semilattice is a lattice. A lattice in which every subset, not just every pair, possesses a meet and a join is a complete lattice. It is also possible to define a partial lattice, in which not all pairs have a meet or join but the operations (when defined) satisfy certain axioms. The join/meet of a subset of a totally ordered set is simply the maximal/m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
