Скачать книгу

assumed, such that, for all random variables and processes, the probability that any random variable has an outcome in a particular set upper A element-of script upper A can be calculated using the appropriate technical calculation1 relevant to each random variable. If the random variables or processes have a time structure, then mathematical properties of filtration and adaptedness ensure that sets A which qualify as left-parenthesis script upper A comma upper P right-parenthesis‐measurable events at earlier times will still qualify as such at subsequent times.

      The integrator d script upper X left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis is a random variable. The integrand function f left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis or script upper Z left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis is also a random variable. And the (stochastic) integral script upper S Subscript t Baseline comma equals integral Subscript 0 Superscript t Baseline script upper Z left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis d script upper X left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis, is a random variable. This point is sometimes illustrated in textbooks by means of examples such as the following.

      Example 1

script upper Z left-parenthesis t Subscript j minus 1 Baseline right-parenthesis left-parenthesis script upper X left-parenthesis t Subscript j Baseline right-parenthesis minus script upper X left-parenthesis t Subscript j minus 1 Baseline right-parenthesis right-parenthesis comma

      is then a random variable representing the change in the value of the total asset holding. The stochastic integral script upper S Subscript t Baseline comma equals integral Subscript 0 Superscript t Baseline script upper Z left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis d script upper X left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis, represents the aggregate or sum of these changes over the period of time left-bracket 0 comma t right-bracket; and is a random variable.

      The notation and terminology of ordinary integration is used in I1, I2, I3, I4, and they provide a certain “feel” for what is going on. But the various elements of the system are clearly different from ordinary integration. Can we get some more precise idea of what is really going on?

      The “integration‐like” construction in I1 suggests that the domain of integration is 0 less-than-or-equal-to s less-than-or-equal-to t, and that the integrand takes values in a class of functions (—random variables; that is, functions which are measurable with respect to some probability space, or spaces).

      How does this compare with more familiar integration scenarios? Basic integration (“integral Subscript a Superscript b Baseline f left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis d s”) has two elements: firstly, a domain of integration containing values of the integration variable s, and secondly, an integrand function f left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis which depends on the values s in the domain of integration. The more familiar integrand functions have values which are real or complex numbers f left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis; and which are deterministic (that is, “definite”, not approximate or estimated).

      The construction in I1, I2, I3 indicates an integration domain left-bracket 0 comma t right-bracket or right-bracket 0 comma t right-bracket. (There is nothing surprising in that.) But in I1, I2, I3 the integrand values are not real or complex numbers, but random variables—which may be a bit surprising.

      But it is not unprecedented. For instance, the Bochner integration process in mathematical analysis deals with integrands whose values are functions, not numbers.

      The construction and definition of the Bochner integral [105] is similar in some respects to the classical Itô integral. What is the end result of the construction in I1, I2, I3?

      In general, the integral of a function f gives a kind of average or aggregation of all the possible values of f. So if each value of the integrand f left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis is a random variable, the integral of f should itself be a random variable—that is, a function which is measurable with respect to an underlying probability measure space.