Lecture

Optional Stopping Theorem: Martingales and Stepping Times

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In course

COM-417: Advanced probability and applications

In this course, various aspects of probability theory are considered. The first part covers the main theorems in the field (law of large numbers, central limit theorem), while the second part focuses on the theory of martingales and concentration inequalit ...

Description

This lecture by the instructor covers the consequences and applications of the optional stopping theorem for martingales with square-integrable filtrations. The theorem is presented in the context of stepping times, discussing the conditions under which the theorem holds and its implications. The proof of the theorem is revisited, emphasizing the use of the Monotone Convergence Theorem. Various definitions related to stopped martingales are introduced, and examples with classical random walks are provided to illustrate the concepts. The lecture concludes with a discussion on the behavior of martingales under different stopping conditions and the application of the theorem in practical scenarios.

Instructors (2)

Yanina Yurina Shkel

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Serhat Emre Coban, Anuj Kumar Yadav, Cemre Çadir Courses Advanced probability and applications COM-417 In this course, various aspects of probability theory are considered. The first part covers the main theorems in the field (law of large numbers, central limit theorem), while the second part focuses on the theory of martingales and concentration inequalities. Signal processing COM-202 Signal processing theory and applications: discrete and cont

Olivier Lévêque

Olivier Lévêque was born in Switzerland in 1971. He received the physics diploma from EPFL in 1995 and completed his PhD in mathematics at EPFL in 2001. Since then, he has been with the Laboratory of Information Theory at EPFL. He spent the academical year 2005-2006 at the Electrical Engineering Department of Stanford University, where he was appointed as lecturer. His research interests include stochastic analysis, random matrices, wireless communications and information theory.

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Related concepts (31)

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. 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.

Doob's martingale convergence theorems

In mathematics specifically, in the theory of stochastic processes Doob's martingale convergence theorems are a collection of results on the limits of supermartingales, named after the American mathematician Joseph L. Doob. Informally, the martingale convergence theorem typically refers to the result that any supermartingale satisfying a certain boundedness condition must converge.

Stopping time

In probability theory, in particular in the study of stochastic processes, a stopping time (also Markov time, Markov moment, optional stopping time or optional time) is a specific type of “random time”: a random variable whose value is interpreted as the time at which a given stochastic process exhibits a certain behavior of interest. A stopping time is often defined by a stopping rule, a mechanism for deciding whether to continue or stop a process on the basis of the present position and past events, and which will almost always lead to a decision to stop at some finite time.

Optional stopping theorem

In probability theory, the optional stopping theorem (or sometimes Doob's optional sampling theorem, for American probabilist Joseph Doob) says that, under certain conditions, the expected value of a martingale at a stopping time is equal to its initial expected value. Since martingales can be used to model the wealth of a gambler participating in a fair game, the optional stopping theorem says that, on average, nothing can be gained by stopping play based on the information obtainable so far (i.e.

Optimal stopping

In mathematics, the theory of optimal stopping or early stopping is concerned with the problem of choosing a time to take a particular action, in order to maximise an expected reward or minimise an expected cost. Optimal stopping problems can be found in areas of statistics, economics, and mathematical finance (related to the pricing of American options). A key example of an optimal stopping problem is the secretary problem. Optimal stopping problems can often be written in the form of a Bellman equation, and are therefore often solved using dynamic programming.

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