Random Summation

This book provides an introduction to the asymptotic theory of random summation, combining a strict exposition of the foundations of this theory and recent results. It also includes a description of its applications to solving practical problems in hardware and software reliability, insurance, finance, and more. The authors show how practice interacts with theory, and how new mathematical formulations of problems appear and develop. Attention is mainly focused on transfer theorems, description of the classes of limit laws, and criteria for convergence of distributions of sums for a random number of random variables. Theoretical background is given for the choice of approximations for the distribution of stock prices or surplus processes. General mathematical theory of reliability growth of modified systems, including software, is presented. Special sections deal with doubling with repair, rarefaction of renewal processes, limit theorems for supercritical Galton-Watson processes, information properties of probability distributions, and asymptotic behavior of doubly stochastic Poisson processes. Random Summation: Limit Theorems and Applications will be of use to specialists and students in probability theory, mathematical statistics, and stochastic processes, as well as to financial mathematicians, actuaries, and to engineers desiring to improve probability models for solving practical problems and for finding new approaches to the construction of mathematical models.

This book provides an introduction to the asymptotic theory of random summation, combining a strict exposition of the foundations of this theory and recent results. It also includes a description of its applications to solving practical problems in hardware and software reliability, insurance, finance, and more. The authors show how practice interacts with theory, and how new mathematical formulations of problems appear and develop. Attention is mainly focused on transfer theorems, description of the classes of limit laws, and criteria for convergence of distributions of sums for a random number of random variables. Theoretical background is given for the choice of approximations for the distribution of stock prices or surplus processes. General mathematical theory of reliability growth of modified systems, including software, is presented. Special sections deal with doubling with repair, rarefaction of renewal processes, limit theorems for supercritical Galton-Watson processes, information properties of probability distributions, and asymptotic behavior of doubly stochastic Poisson processes. Random Summation: Limit Theorems and Applications will be of use to specialists and students in probability theory, mathematical statistics, and stochastic processes, as well as to financial mathematicians, actuaries, and to engineers desiring to improve probability models for solving practical problems and for finding new approaches to the construction of mathematical models.

The classic "Limit Dislribntions fOT slt1ns of Independent Ramdorn Vari ables" by B.V. Gnedenko and A.N. Kolmogorov was published in 1949. Since then the theory of summation of independent variables has devel oped rapidly. Today a summing-up of the studies in this area, and their results, would require many volumes. The monograph by I.A. Ibragi mov and Yu. V. I~innik, "Independent and Stationarily Connected VaTiables", which appeared in 1965, contains an exposition of the contem porary state of the theory of the summation of independent identically distributed random variables. The present book borders on that of Ibragimov and Linnik, sharing only a few common areas. Its main focus is on sums of independent but not necessarily identically distri buted random variables. It nevertheless includes a number of the most recent results relating to sums of independent and identically distributed variables. Together with limit theorems, it presents many probahilistic inequalities for sums of an arbitrary number of independent variables. The last two chapters deal with the laws of large numbers and the law of the iterated logarithm. These questions were not treated in Ibragimov and Linnik; Gnedenko and KolmogoTOv deals only with theorems on the weak law of large numbers. Thus this book may be taken as complementary to the book by Ibragimov and Linnik. I do not, however, assume that the reader is familiar with the latter, nor with the monograph by Gnedenko and Kolmogorov, which has long since become a bibliographical rarity

The series is devoted to the publication of high-level monographs and surveys which cover the whole spectrum of probability and statistics. The books of the series are addressed to both experts and advanced students.

There are many ways of introducing the concept of probability in classical, deterministic physics. This volume is concerned with one approach, known as 'the method of arbitrary functions', which was first considered by Poincare. Essentially, the method proceeds by associating some uncertainty to our knowledge of both the initial conditions and the values of the physical constants that characterize the evolution of a physical system. By modeling this uncertainty by a probability density distribution, it is then possible to analyze how the state of the system evolves through time. This approach may be applied to a wide variety of classical problems and the author considers here examples as diverse as bouncing balls, simple and coupled harmonic oscillators, integrable systems (such as spinning tops), planetary motion, and billiards. An important aspect of this account is to study the speed of convergence for solutions in order to determine the practical relevance of the method of arbitrary functions for specific examples. Consequently, both new results on convergence, and tractable upper bounds are derived and applied.

Two-person zero-sum game theory deals with situations that are perfectly competitive—there are exactly two decision makers for whom there is no possibility of cooperation or compromise. It is the most fundamental part of game theory, and the part most commonly applied. There are diverse applications to military battles, sports, parlor games, economics and politics. The theory was born in World War II, and has by now matured into a significant and tractable body of knowledge about competitive decision making. The advent of modern, powerful computers has enabled the solution of many games that were once beyond computational reach. Two-Person Zero-Sum Games, 4th Ed. offers an up-to-date introduction to the subject, especially its computational aspects. Any finite game can be solved by the brute force method of enumerating all possible strategies and then applying linear programming. The trouble is that many interesting games have far too many strategies to enumerate, even with the aid of computers. After introducing ideas, terminology, and the brute force method in the initial chapters, the rest of the book is devoted to classes of games that can be solved without enumerating every strategy. Numerous examples are given, as well as an extensive set of exercises. Many of the exercises are keyed to sheets of an included Excel workbook that can be freely downloaded from the SpringerExtras website. This new edition can be used as either a reference book or as a textbook.

Presents a general study of the convergence problem and intends to prove several fresh results and improve a number of old results in the field. This title studies the case when the nk are random and investigates the discrepancy the sequence (nkx) mod 1.