Albert Shiryaev Bücher

Although three decades have passed since the first publication of this book, it is reprinted now as a result of popular demand. The content remains up-to-date and interesting for many researchers as is shown by the many references to it in current publications. The author is one of the leading experts of the field and gives an authoritative treatment of a subject.

This book contains a systematic treatment of probability from the ground up, starting with intuitive ideas and gradually developing more sophisticated subjects, such as random walks, martingales, Markov chains, ergodic theory, weak convergence of probability measures, stationary stochastic processes, and the Kalman-Bucy filter. Many examples are discussed in detail, and there are a large number of exercises. The book is accessible to advanced undergraduates and can be used as a text for self-study. This new edition contains substantial revisions and updated references. The reader will find a deeper study of topics such as the distance between probability measures, metrization of weak convergence, and contiguity of probability measures. Proofs for a number of some important results which were merely stated in the first edition have been added. The author included new material on the probability of large deviations, and on the central limit theorem for sums of dependent random variables.

The role of Yuri Vasilyevich Prokhorov as a prominent mathematician and leading expert in the theory of probability is well known. Even early in his career he obtained substantial results on the validity of the strong law of large numbers and on the estimates (bounds) of the rates of convergence, some of which are the best possible. His findings on limit theorems in metric spaces and particularly functional limit theorems are of exceptional importance. Y. V. Prokhorov developed an original approach to the proof of functional limit theorems, based on the weak convergence of finite dimensional distributions and the condition of tightness of probability measures. The present volume commemorates the 80th birthday of Yuri Vasilyevich Prokhorov. It includes scientific contributions written by his colleagues, friends and pupils, who would like to express their deep respect and sincerest admiration for him and his scientific work.