620-301 Stochastic Modelling

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

620-201 and one of 620-112, 620-122, 620-200, 620-211.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject introduces the concept of a stochastic process and deals with the important standard stochastic processes, including Poisson process, Markov chains, birth-and-death processes, queueing processes and renewal processes. Students learn to develop a stochastic process model from a real-life situation and to derive the behaviour and properties of the process. This subject demonstrates the importance of stochastic processes in modelling real-life phenomena and in particular shows the applications of stochastic models to industry and the sciences.

Topics covered: Markov chains and applications; random walks; Markov decision processes; the Poisson process; birth-and-death processes and applications, queueing models; elements of simulation; renewal processes.

Assessment

A 3-hour end of semester written examination; up to 50 pages of assignments may be assessed.