Handbook in Monte Carlo Simulation. Applications in Financial Engineering, Risk Management, and Economics

Simulation and Monte Carlo is aimed at students studying for degrees in Mathematics, Statistics, Financial Mathematics, Operational Research, Computer Science, and allied subjects, who wish an up-to-date account of the theory and practice of Simulation. Its distinguishing features are in-depth accounts of the theory of Simulation, including the important topic of variance reduction techniques, together with illustrative applications in Financial Mathematics, Markov chain Monte Carlo, and Discrete Event Simulation. Each chapter contains a good selection of exercises and solutions with an accompanying appendix comprising a Maple worksheet containing simulation procedures. The worksheets can also be downloaded from the web site supporting the book. This encourages readers to adopt a hands-on approach in the effective design of simulation experiments. Arising from a course taught at Edinburgh University over several years, the book will also appeal to practitioners working in the finance industry, statistics and operations research.

Written and edited by a group of renowned specialists in the field, this outstanding new volume addresses primary computational techniques for developing new technologies in soft computing. It also highlights the security, privacy, artificial intelligence, and practical approaches needed by engineers and scientists in all fields of science and technology. It highlights the current research, which is intended to advance not only mathematics but all areas of science, research, and development, and where these disciplines intersect. As the book is focused on emerging concepts in machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithmic approaches and soft computing techniques, it is an invaluable tool for researchers, academicians, data scientists, and technology developers. The newest and most comprehensive volume in the area of mathematical methods for use in real-time engineering, this groundbreaking new work is a must-have for any engineer or scientist’s library. Also useful as a textbook for the student, it is a valuable contribution to the advancement of the science, both a working handbook for the new hire or student, and a reference for the veteran engineer.

This book provides the first simultaneous coverage of the statistical aspects of simulation and Monte Carlo methods, their commonalities and their differences for the solution of a wide spectrum of engineering and scientific problems. It contains standard material usually considered in Monte Carlo simulation as well as new material such as variance reduction techniques, regenerative simulation, and Monte Carlo optimization.

This accessible new edition explores the major topics in Monte Carlo simulation that have arisen over the past 30 years and presents a sound foundation for problem solving Simulation and the Monte Carlo Method, Third Edition reflects the latest developments in the field and presents a fully updated and comprehensive account of the state-of-the-art theory, methods and applications that have emerged in Monte Carlo simulation since the publication of the classic First Edition over more than a quarter of a century ago. While maintaining its accessible and intuitive approach, this revised edition features a wealth of up-to-date information that facilitates a deeper understanding of problem solving across a wide array of subject areas, such as engineering, statistics, computer science, mathematics, and the physical and life sciences. The book begins with a modernized introduction that addresses the basic concepts of probability, Markov processes, and convex optimization. Subsequent chapters discuss the dramatic changes that have occurred in the field of the Monte Carlo method, with coverage of many modern topics including: Markov Chain Monte Carlo, variance reduction techniques such as importance (re-)sampling, and the transform likelihood ratio method, the score function method for sensitivity analysis, the stochastic approximation method and the stochastic counter-part method for Monte Carlo optimization, the cross-entropy method for rare events estimation and combinatorial optimization, and application of Monte Carlo techniques for counting problems. An extensive range of exercises is provided at the end of each chapter, as well as a generous sampling of applied examples. The Third Edition features a new chapter on the highly versatile splitting method, with applications to rare-event estimation, counting, sampling, and optimization. A second new chapter introduces the stochastic enumeration method, which is a new fast sequential Monte Carlo method for tree search. In addition, the Third Edition features new material on: • Random number generation, including multiple-recursive generators and the Mersenne Twister • Simulation of Gaussian processes, Brownian motion, and diffusion processes • Multilevel Monte Carlo method • New enhancements of the cross-entropy (CE) method, including the “improved” CE method, which uses sampling from the zero-variance distribution to find the optimal importance sampling parameters • Over 100 algorithms in modern pseudo code with flow control • Over 25 new exercises Simulation and the Monte Carlo Method, Third Edition is an excellent text for upper-undergraduate and beginning graduate courses in stochastic simulation and Monte Carlo techniques. The book also serves as a valuable reference for professionals who would like to achieve a more formal understanding of the Monte Carlo method. Reuven Y. Rubinstein, DSc, was Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He served as a consultant at numerous large-scale organizations, such as IBM, Motorola, and NEC. The author of over 100 articles and six books, Dr. Rubinstein was also the inventor of the popular score-function method in simulation analysis and generic cross-entropy methods for combinatorial optimization and counting. Dirk P. Kroese, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics in the School of Mathematics and Physics of The University of Queensland, Australia. He has published over 100 articles and four books in a wide range of areas in applied probability and statistics, including Monte Carlo methods, cross-entropy, randomized algorithms, tele-traffic c theory, reliability, computational statistics, applied probability, and stochastic modeling.

This accessible new edition explores the major topics in Monte Carlo simulation Simulation and the Monte Carlo Method, Second Edition reflects the latest developments in the field and presents a fully updated and comprehensive account of the major topics that have emerged in Monte Carlo simulation since the publication of the classic First Edition over twenty-five years ago. While maintaining its accessible and intuitive approach, this revised edition features a wealth of up-to-date information that facilitates a deeper understanding of problem solving across a wide array of subject areas, such as engineering, statistics, computer science, mathematics, and the physical and life sciences. The book begins with a modernized introduction that addresses the basic concepts of probability, Markov processes, and convex optimization. Subsequent chapters discuss the dramatic changes that have occurred in the field of the Monte Carlo method, with coverage of many modern topics including: Markov Chain Monte Carlo Variance reduction techniques such as the transform likelihood ratio method and the screening method The score function method for sensitivity analysis The stochastic approximation method and the stochastic counter-part method for Monte Carlo optimization The cross-entropy method to rare events estimation and combinatorial optimization Application of Monte Carlo techniques for counting problems, with an emphasis on the parametric minimum cross-entropy method An extensive range of exercises is provided at the end of each chapter, with more difficult sections and exercises marked accordingly for advanced readers. A generous sampling of applied examples is positioned throughout the book, emphasizing various areas of application, and a detailed appendix presents an introduction to exponential families, a discussion of the computational complexity of stochastic programming problems, and sample MATLAB programs. Requiring only a basic, introductory knowledge of probability and statistics, Simulation and the Monte Carlo Method, Second Edition is an excellent text for upper-undergraduate and beginning graduate courses in simulation and Monte Carlo techniques. The book also serves as a valuable reference for professionals who would like to achieve a more formal understanding of the Monte Carlo method.

A comprehensive overview of Monte Carlo simulation that explores the latest topics, techniques, and real-world applications More and more of today’s numerical problems found in engineering and finance are solved through Monte Carlo methods. The heightened popularity of these methods and their continuing development makes it important for researchers to have a comprehensive understanding of the Monte Carlo approach. Handbook of Monte Carlo Methods provides the theory, algorithms, and applications that helps provide a thorough understanding of the emerging dynamics of this rapidly-growing field. The authors begin with a discussion of fundamentals such as how to generate random numbers on a computer. Subsequent chapters discuss key Monte Carlo topics and methods, including: Random variable and stochastic process generation Markov chain Monte Carlo, featuring key algorithms such as the Metropolis-Hastings method, the Gibbs sampler, and hit-and-run Discrete-event simulation Techniques for the statistical analysis of simulation data including the delta method, steady-state estimation, and kernel density estimation Variance reduction, including importance sampling, latin hypercube sampling, and conditional Monte Carlo Estimation of derivatives and sensitivity analysis Advanced topics including cross-entropy, rare events, kernel density estimation, quasi Monte Carlo, particle systems, and randomized optimization The presented theoretical concepts are illustrated with worked examples that use MATLAB®, a related Web site houses the MATLAB® code, allowing readers to work hands-on with the material and also features the author's own lecture notes on Monte Carlo methods. Detailed appendices provide background material on probability theory, stochastic processes, and mathematical statistics as well as the key optimization concepts and techniques that are relevant to Monte Carlo simulation. Handbook of Monte Carlo Methods is an excellent reference for applied statisticians and practitioners working in the fields of engineering and finance who use or would like to learn how to use Monte Carlo in their research. It is also a suitable supplement for courses on Monte Carlo methods and computational statistics at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels.

There are many books covering Fibonacci from an artistic and historical point of view and almost as many suggesting that Fibonacci retracements and numbers can be successfully applied to financial market time series. What is missing is a book that addresses the common errors in using screen based Fibonacci (and Gann and other tools). The book is a critical exploration of Fibonacci numbers, retracements, projections, timeframes and fanlines and their current usage within the financial markets by technical analysts. Although they can be extremely effective analytical tools when used appropriately, mistakes in usage can be extremely costly from a financial and credibility viewpoint. George MacLean takes a brief look at the history of Fibonacci and Gann, before providing a full account of their applications in financial markets, including fixed income, equity, foreign exchange, commodities and indexes. In particular, he draws attention to the overuse and misuse of easily applied computer packages available to professional and amateur traders.

A whole is worth the sum of its parts. Even the most complex structured bond, credit arbitrage strategy or hedge trade can be broken down into its component parts, and if we understand the elemental components, we can then value the whole as the sum of its parts. We can quantify the risk that is hedged and the risk that is left as the residual exposure. If we learn to view all financial trades and securities as engineered packages of building blocks, then we can analyze in which structures some parts may be cheap and some may be rich. It is this relative value arbitrage principle that drives all modern trading and investment. This book is an easy-to-understand guide to the complex world of today’s financial markets teaching you what money and capital markets are about through a sequence of arbitrage-based numerical illustrations and exercises enriched with institutional detail. Filled with insights and real life examples from the trading floor, it is essential reading for anyone starting out in trading. Using a unique structural approach to teaching the mechanics of financial markets, the book dissects markets into their common building blocks: spot (cash), forward/futures, and contingent (options) transactions. After explaining how each of these is valued and settled, it exploits the structural uniformity across all markets to introduce the difficult subjects of financially engineered products and complex derivatives. The book avoids stochastic calculus in favour of numeric cash flow calculations, present value tables, and diagrams, explaining options, swaps and credit derivatives without any use of differential equations.

Stochastic Simulation and Applications in Finance with MATLAB Programs explains the fundamentals of Monte Carlo simulation techniques, their use in the numerical resolution of stochastic differential equations and their current applications in finance. Building on an integrated approach, it provides a pedagogical treatment of the need-to-know materials in risk management and financial engineering. The book takes readers through the basic concepts, covering the most recent research and problems in the area, including: the quadratic re-sampling technique, the Least Squared Method, the dynamic programming and Stratified State Aggregation technique to price American options, the extreme value simulation technique to price exotic options and the retrieval of volatility method to estimate Greeks. The authors also present modern term structure of interest rate models and pricing swaptions with the BGM market model, and give a full explanation of corporate securities valuation and credit risk based on the structural approach of Merton. Case studies on financial guarantees illustrate how to implement the simulation techniques in pricing and hedging. NOTE TO READER: The CD has been converted to URL. Go to the following website www.wiley.com/go/huyhnstochastic which provides MATLAB programs for the practical examples and case studies, which will give the reader confidence in using and adapting specific ways to solve problems involving stochastic processes in finance.