With this hands-on introduction readers will learn what SDEs are all about and how they should use them in practice.

These notes are based on a postgraduate course I gave on stochastic differential equations at Edinburgh University in the spring 1982. No previous knowledge about the subject was assumed, but the presen tation is based on some background in measure theory. There are several reasons why one should learn more about stochastic differential equations: They have a wide range of applica tions outside mathematics, there are many fruitful connections to other mathematical disciplines and the subject has a rapidly develop ing life of its own as a fascinating research field with many interesting unanswered questions. Unfortunately most of the literature about stochastic differential equations seems to place so much emphasis on rigor and complete ness that is scares many nonexperts away. These notes are an attempt to approach the subject from the nonexpert point of view: Not knowing anything (except rumours, maybe) about a subject to start with, what would I like to know first of all? My answer would be: 1) In what situations does the subject arise? 2) What are its essential features? 3) What are the applications and the connections to other fields? I would not be so interested in the proof of the most general case, but rather in an easier proof of a special case, which may give just as much of the basic idea in the argument. And I would be willing to believe some basic results without proof (at first stage, anyway) in order to have time for some more basic applications.

Stochastic differential equations (SDEs) are a powerful tool in science, mathematics, economics and finance. This book will help the reader to master the basic theory and learn some applications of SDEs. In particular, the reader will be provided with the backward SDE technique for use in research when considering financial problems in the market, and with the reflecting SDE technique to enable study of optimal stochastic population control problems. These two techniques are powerful and efficient, and can also be applied to research in many other problems in nature, science and elsewhere.

The numerical analysis of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) differs significantly from that of ordinary differential equations. This book provides an easily accessible introduction to SDEs, their applications and the numerical methods to solve such equations. From the reviews: "The authors draw upon their own research and experiences in obviously many disciplines... considerable time has obviously been spent writing this in the simplest language possible." --ZAMP

These notes provide a concise introduction to stochastic differential equations and their application to the study of financial markets and as a basis for modeling diverse physical phenomena. They are accessible to non-specialists and make a valuable addition to the collection of texts on the topic. --Srinivasa Varadhan, New York University This is a handy and very useful text for studying stochastic differential equations. There is enough mathematical detail so that the reader can benefit from this introduction with only a basic background in mathematical analysis and probability. --George Papanicolaou, Stanford University This book covers the most important elementary facts regarding stochastic differential equations; it also describes some of the applications to partial differential equations, optimal stopping, and options pricing. The book's style is intuitive rather than formal, and emphasis is made on clarity. This book will be very helpful to starting graduate students and strong undergraduates as well as to others who want to gain knowledge of stochastic differential equations. I recommend this book enthusiastically. --Alexander Lipton, Mathematical Finance Executive, Bank of America Merrill Lynch This short book provides a quick, but very readable introduction to stochastic differential equations, that is, to differential equations subject to additive ``white noise'' and related random disturbances. The exposition is concise and strongly focused upon the interplay between probabilistic intuition and mathematical rigor. Topics include a quick survey of measure theoretic probability theory, followed by an introduction to Brownian motion and the Ito stochastic calculus, and finally the theory of stochastic differential equations. The text also includes applications to partial differential equations, optimal stopping problems and options pricing. This book can be used as a text for senior undergraduates or beginning graduate students in mathematics, applied mathematics, physics, financial mathematics, etc., who want to learn the basics of stochastic differential equations. The reader is assumed to be fairly familiar with measure theoretic mathematical analysis, but is not assumed to have any particular knowledge of probability theory (which is rapidly developed in Chapter 2 of the book).

This book covers a highly relevant and timely topic that is of wide interest, especially in finance, engineering and computational biology. The introductory material on simulation and stochastic differential equation is very accessible and will prove popular with many readers. While there are several recent texts available that cover stochastic differential equations, the concentration here on inference makes this book stand out. No other direct competitors are known to date. With an emphasis on the practical implementation of the simulation and estimation methods presented, the text will be useful to practitioners and students with minimal mathematical background. What’s more, because of the many R programs, the information here is appropriate for many mathematically well educated practitioners, too.