This book provides a self-contained review of all the relevant topics in probability theory. A software package called MAXIM, which runs on MATLAB, is made available for downloading. Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni is Professor of Operations Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Coherent introduction to techniques also offers a guide to the mathematical, numerical, and simulation tools of systems analysis. Includes formulation of models, analysis, and interpretation of results. 1995 edition.

An Introduction to Stochastic Modeling provides information pertinent to the standard concepts and methods of stochastic modeling. This book presents the rich diversity of applications of stochastic processes in the sciences. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of diverse types of stochastic models, which predicts a set of possible outcomes weighed by their likelihoods or probabilities. This text then provides exercises in the applications of simple stochastic analysis to appropriate problems. Other chapters consider the study of general functions of independent, identically distributed, nonnegative random variables representing the successive intervals between renewals. This book discusses as well the numerous examples of Markov branching processes that arise naturally in various scientific disciplines. The final chapter deals with queueing models, which aid the design process by predicting system performance. This book is a valuable resource for students of engineering and management science. Engineers will also find this book useful.

Building on the author’s more than 35 years of teaching experience, Modeling and Analysis of Stochastic Systems, Third Edition, covers the most important classes of stochastic processes used in the modeling of diverse systems. For each class of stochastic process, the text includes its definition, characterization, applications, transient and limiting behavior, first passage times, and cost/reward models. The third edition has been updated with several new applications, including the Google search algorithm in discrete time Markov chains, several examples from health care and finance in continuous time Markov chains, and square root staffing rule in Queuing models. More than 50 new exercises have been added to enhance its use as a course text or for self-study. The sequence of chapters and exercises has been maintained between editions, to enable those now teaching from the second edition to use the third edition. Rather than offer special tricks that work in specific problems, this book provides thorough coverage of general tools that enable the solution and analysis of stochastic models. After mastering the material in the text, readers will be well-equipped to build and analyze useful stochastic models for real-life situations.

This practical and accessible text enables readers from engineering, business, operations research, public policy and computer science to analyze stochastic systems. Emphasizing the modeling of real-life situations with stochastic elements and analyzing the resulting stochastic model, it presents the major cases of useful stochastic processes-discrete and continuous time Markov chains, renewal processes, regenerative processes, and Markov regenerative processes. The author provides reader-friendly yet rigorous coverage. He follows a set pattern of development for each class of stochastic processes and introduces Markov chains before renewal processes, so that readers can begin modeling systems early. He demonstrates both numerical and analytical solution methods in detail and dedicates a separate chapter to queueing applications. Modeling and Analysis of Stochastic Systems includes numerous worked examples and exercises, conveniently categorized as modeling, computational, or conceptual and making difficult concepts easy to grasp. Taking a practical approach to working with stochastic models, this book helps readers to model and analyze the increasingly complex and interdependent systems made possible by recent advances.

Building on the author’s more than 35 years of teaching experience, Modeling and Analysis of Stochastic Systems, Third Edition, covers the most important classes of stochastic processes used in the modeling of diverse systems. For each class of stochastic process, the text includes its definition, characterization, applications, transient and limiting behavior, first passage times, and cost/reward models. The third edition has been updated with several new applications, including the Google search algorithm in discrete time Markov chains, several examples from health care and finance in continuous time Markov chains, and square root staffing rule in Queuing models. More than 50 new exercises have been added to enhance its use as a course text or for self-study. The sequence of chapters and exercises has been maintained between editions, to enable those now teaching from the second edition to use the third edition. Rather than offer special tricks that work in specific problems, this book provides thorough coverage of general tools that enable the solution and analysis of stochastic models. After mastering the material in the text, readers will be well-equipped to build and analyze useful stochastic models for real-life situations.

Pt. I. Stochastic analysis and systems. 1. Multidimensional Wick-Ito formula for Gaussian processes / D. Nualart and S. Ortiz-Latorre. 2. Fractional white noise multiplication / A.H. Tsoi. 3. Invariance principle of regime-switching diffusions / C. Zhu and G. Yin -- pt. II. Finance and stochastics. 4. Real options and competition / A. Bensoussan, J.D. Diltz and S.R. Hoe. 5. Finding expectations of monotone functions of binary random variables by simulation, with applications to reliability, finance, and round robin tournaments / M. Brown, E.A. Pekoz and S.M. Ross. 6. Filtering with counting process observations and other factors : applications to bond price tick data / X. Hu, D.R. Kuipers and Y. Zeng. 7. Jump bond markets some steps towards general models in applications to hedging and utility problems / M. Kohlmann and D. Xiong. 8. Recombining tree for regime-switching model : algorithm and weak convergence / R.H. Liu. 9. Optimal reinsurance under a jump diffusion model / S. Luo. 10. Applications of counting processes and martingales in survival analysis / J. Sun. 11. Stochastic algorithms and numerics for mean-reverting asset trading / Q. Zhang, C. Zhuang and G. Yin