Probability A Graduate Course

This textbook on the theory of probability starts from the premise that rather than being a purely mathematical discipline, probability theory is an intimate companion of statistics. The book starts with the basic tools, and goes on to cover a number of subjects in detail, including chapters on inequalities, characteristic functions and convergence. This is followed by explanations of the three main subjects in probability: the law of large numbers, the central limit theorem, and the law of the iterated logarithm. After a discussion of generalizations and extensions, the book concludes with an extensive chapter on martingales.

Probability and Mathematical Statistics: A Series of Monographs and Textbooks: A Graduate Course in Probability presents some of the basic theorems of analytic probability theory in a cohesive manner. This book discusses the probability spaces and distributions, stochastic independence, basic limiting operations, and strong limit theorems for independent random variables. The central limit theorem, conditional expectation and martingale theory, and Brownian motion are also elaborated. The prerequisite for this text is knowledge of real analysis or measure theory, particularly the Lebesgue dominated convergence theorem, Fubini's theorem, Radon-Nikodym theorem, Egorov's theorem, monotone convergence theorem, and theorem on unique extension of a sigma-finite measure from an algebra to the sigma-algebra generated by it. This publication is suitable for a one-year graduate course in probability given in a mathematics program and preferably for students in their second year of graduate work.

This book covers the basics of modern probability theory. It begins with probability theory on finite and countable sample spaces and then passes from there to a concise course on measure theory, which is followed by some initial applications to probability theory, including independence and conditional expectations. The second half of the book deals with Gaussian random variables, with Markov chains, with a few continuous parameter processes, including Brownian motion, and, finally, with martingales, both discrete and continuous parameter ones. The book is a self-contained introduction to probability theory and the measure theory required to study it.

The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a solid background and understanding of the basic results and methods in probability the ory before entering into more advanced courses (in probability and/or statistics). The presentation is fairly thorough and detailed with many solved examples. Several examples are solved with different methods in order to illustrate their different levels of sophistication, their pros, and their cons. The motivation for this style of exposition is that experi ence has proved that the hard part in courses of this kind usually in the application of the results and methods; to know how, when, and where to apply what; and then, technically, to solve a given problem once one knows how to proceed. Exercises are spread out along the way, and every chapter ends with a large selection of problems. Chapters I through VI focus on some central areas of what might be called pure probability theory: multivariate random variables, condi tioning, transforms, order variables, the multivariate normal distribution, and convergence. A final chapter is devoted to the Poisson process be cause of its fundamental role in the theory of stochastic processes, but also because it provides an excellent application of the results and meth ods acquired earlier in the book. As an extra bonus, several facts about this process, which are frequently more or less taken for granted, are thereby properly verified.

John Walsh, one of the great masters of the subject, has written a superb book on probability. It covers at a leisurely pace all the important topics that students need to know, and provides excellent examples. I regret his book was not available when I taught such a course myself, a few years ago. —Ioannis Karatzas, Columbia University In this wonderful book, John Walsh presents a panoramic view of Probability Theory, starting from basic facts on mean, median and mode, continuing with an excellent account of Markov chains and martingales, and culminating with Brownian motion. Throughout, the author's personal style is apparent; he manages to combine rigor with an emphasis on the key ideas so the reader never loses sight of the forest by being surrounded by too many trees. As noted in the preface, “To teach a course with pleasure, one should learn at the same time.” Indeed, almost all instructors will learn something new from the book (e.g. the potential-theoretic proof of Skorokhod embedding) and at the same time, it is attractive and approachable for students. —Yuval Peres, Microsoft With many examples in each section that enhance the presentation, this book is a welcome addition to the collection of books that serve the needs of advanced undergraduate as well as first year graduate students. The pace is leisurely which makes it more attractive as a text. —Srinivasa Varadhan, Courant Institute, New York This book covers in a leisurely manner all the standard material that one would want in a full year probability course with a slant towards applications in financial analysis at the graduate or senior undergraduate honors level. It contains a fair amount of measure theory and real analysis built in but it introduces sigma-fields, measure theory, and expectation in an especially elementary and intuitive way. A large variety of examples and exercises in each chapter enrich the presentation in the text.

This is a textbook for a one-semester graduate course in measure-theoretic probability theory, but with ample material to cover an ordinary year-long course at a more leisurely pace. Khoshnevisan's approach is to develop the ideas that are absolutely central to modern probability theory, and to showcase them by presenting their various applications. As a result, a few of the familiar topics are replaced by interesting non-standard ones. The topics range from undergraduate probability and classical limit theorems to Brownian motion and elements of stochastic calculus. Throughout, the reader will find many exciting applications of probability theory and probabilistic reasoning. There are numerous exercises, ranging from the routine to the very difficult. Each chapter concludes with historical notes.

An integrated package of powerful probabilistic tools and key applications in modern mathematical data science.

Students and teachers of mathematics and related fields will find this book a comprehensive and modern approach to probability theory, providing the background and techniques to go from the beginning graduate level to the point of specialization in research areas of current interest. The book is designed for a two- or three-semester course, assuming only courses in undergraduate real analysis or rigorous advanced calculus, and some elementary linear algebra. A variety of applications—Bayesian statistics, financial mathematics, information theory, tomography, and signal processing—appear as threads to both enhance the understanding of the relevant mathematics and motivate students whose main interests are outside of pure areas.