APP MTH 3001 - Applied Probability III

Many processes in the real world involve some random variation superimposed on a deterministic structure. For example, the experiment of flipping a coin is best studied by treating the outcome as a random one. Mathematical probability has its origins in games of chance with dice and cards, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This course aims to provide a basic tool kit for modelling and analysing discrete-time problems in which there is a significant probabilistic component. We will consider Markov chain examples in the course including population branching processes (with application to genetics), random walks (with application to games), and more general discrete time examples using Martingales. Topics covered are: basic probability and measure theory, discrete time Markov chains, hitting probabilities and hitting time theorems, population branching processes, homogeneous random walks on the line, solidarity properties and communicating classes, necessary and sufficient conditions for transience and positive recurrence, global balance, partial balance, reversibility, Martingales, stopping times and stopping theorems with a link to Brownian motion.