Unit information: Stochastic Processes in 2016/17

Unit name	Stochastic Processes
Unit code	MATHM6006
Credit points	10
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1B (weeks 7 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Balint Toth
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	MATH36204 Martingale Theory and Applications 3 or MATHM6204 Martingale Theory and Applications 4. Background in PDE's helpful but not essential
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Mathematics
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Description including Unit Aims

Unit aims

The aim of the unit is to introduce theory of Brownian motions, in particular, how to construct it from random walks, various properties, and finally stochastic integration leading to a brief survey of diffusion processes.

General Description of the Unit

This unit aims for an intuitive understanding of Brownian motion and stochastic calculus, although rigorous proofs will be presented for a few of the most beautiful results. Students should be comfortable with reading and understanding rigorous proofs. Understanding Brownian motion, commonly regarded as the canonical example of a martingale and a Markov process with continuous paths, is essential for any future study of stochastic processes and its applications.

COURSE WEB PAGE: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/maths/study/undergraduate/units1617/levelm7units/stochasticprocesses/

Relation to Other Units

This unit is a first course in continuous time stochastic processes and introductory stochastic analysis.

Additional unit information can be found at http://www.maths.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergrad/current_units/index.html

Intended Learning Outcomes

Learning Objectives

At the end of the unit students should:

• be able to recall all definitions and main results,
• be able to understand on an intuitive level the reasoning behind proofs of major results,
• be able to apply the theory in standard situations,
• be able to use the ideas of the unit in unseen situations

Transferable Skills

Understanding the behaviour of diffusion processes so as to be able to use them (e.g. perform calculations and write simulations) in problems arising in physics, engineering, financial calculus or statistics.

Teaching Information

Lectures supported by problem sheets and solution sheets.

Assessment Information

80% Examination

20% Coursework

Raw scores on the examinations will be determined according to the marking scheme written on the examination paper. The marking scheme, indicating the maximum score per question, is a guide to the relative weighting of the questions. Raw scores are moderated as described in the Undergraduate Handbook.

Reading and References

Reading and references are available at http://www.maths.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergrad/current_units/index.html