Stochastic Processes Unit 1 Review: Probability Theory Basics

Key Concepts and Definitions

• Probability measures the likelihood of an event occurring and ranges from 0 (impossible) to 1 (certain)
• Sample space ($\Omega$) represents the set of all possible outcomes of an experiment or random process
• Event (A) is a subset of the sample space and represents a collection of outcomes of interest
• Random variable (X) assigns a numerical value to each outcome in the sample space and can be discrete or continuous
• Probability distribution describes the probabilities of different outcomes for a random variable
  • Probability mass function (PMF) defines the probability distribution for a discrete random variable
  • Probability density function (PDF) defines the probability distribution for a continuous random variable
• Cumulative distribution function (CDF) gives the probability that a random variable is less than or equal to a specific value
• Expectation (E[X]) represents the average value of a random variable over its entire range

Probability Axioms and Rules

• Axiom 1: Non-negativity - The probability of any event A is greater than or equal to zero, $P(A) \geq 0$
• Axiom 2: Normalization - The probability of the entire sample space is equal to one, $P(\Omega) = 1$
• Axiom 3: Countable Additivity - For any countable sequence of disjoint events $A_1, A_2, ...$, the probability of their union is equal to the sum of their individual probabilities, $P(\bigcup_{i=1}^{\infty} A_i) = \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} P(A_i)$
• Complement Rule: The probability of an event A not occurring (complement) is equal to one minus the probability of A, $P(A^c) = 1 - P(A)$
• Addition Rule: For any two events A and B, the probability of their union is equal to the sum of their individual probabilities minus the probability of their intersection, $P(A \cup B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A \cap B)$
• Multiplication Rule: For any two events A and B, the probability of their intersection is equal to the probability of A multiplied by the conditional probability of B given A, $P(A \cap B) = P(A) \cdot P(B|A)$

Random Variables and Distributions

• Discrete random variables take on a countable number of distinct values (integers, finite sets)
  • Examples include the number of heads in a fixed number of coin flips or the number of defective items in a batch
• Continuous random variables can take on any value within a specified range or interval (real numbers)
  • Examples include the time until a machine fails or the weight of a randomly selected object
• Probability mass function (PMF) for a discrete random variable X is denoted as $p_X(x)$ and gives the probability that X takes on a specific value x
• Probability density function (PDF) for a continuous random variable X is denoted as $f_X(x)$ and represents the relative likelihood of X taking on a value near x
  • The probability of X falling within an interval [a, b] is given by the integral of the PDF over that interval, $P(a \leq X \leq b) = \int_a^b f_X(x) dx$
• Cumulative distribution function (CDF) for a random variable X is denoted as $F_X(x)$ and gives the probability that X is less than or equal to a specific value x, $F_X(x) = P(X \leq x)$

Expected Value and Variance

• Expected value (mean) of a discrete random variable X is denoted as $E[X]$ and is calculated by summing the product of each possible value and its probability, $E[X] = \sum_{x} x \cdot p_X(x)$
• Expected value of a continuous random variable X is calculated by integrating the product of each value and its PDF over the entire range, $E[X] = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} x \cdot f_X(x) dx$
• Variance of a random variable X measures the spread of its distribution and is denoted as $Var(X)$ or $\sigma^2_X$
  • For a discrete random variable, $Var(X) = \sum_{x} (x - E[X])^2 \cdot p_X(x)$
  • For a continuous random variable, $Var(X) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} (x - E[X])^2 \cdot f_X(x) dx$
• Standard deviation ($\sigma_X$) is the square root of the variance and has the same units as the random variable
• Linearity of expectation states that for any two random variables X and Y, $E[X + Y] = E[X] + E[Y]$, even if X and Y are not independent

Conditional Probability and Bayes' Theorem

• Conditional probability of an event A given event B is denoted as $P(A|B)$ and represents the probability of A occurring given that B has occurred, $P(A|B) = \frac{P(A \cap B)}{P(B)}$
• Bayes' Theorem relates conditional probabilities and is useful for updating probabilities based on new information, $P(A|B) = \frac{P(B|A) \cdot P(A)}{P(B)}$
  • $P(A)$ is the prior probability of event A before considering event B
  • $P(B|A)$ is the likelihood of observing event B given that event A has occurred
  • $P(B)$ is the marginal probability of event B, which acts as a normalizing constant
• Law of Total Probability states that for a partition of the sample space $\{B_1, B_2, ...\}$, the probability of an event A can be calculated as $P(A) = \sum_{i} P(A|B_i) \cdot P(B_i)$
  • This law is useful when the probability of A is difficult to calculate directly but can be found by conditioning on a partition of the sample space

Independence and Joint Distributions

• Two events A and B are independent if the occurrence of one does not affect the probability of the other, $P(A \cap B) = P(A) \cdot P(B)$
• Two random variables X and Y are independent if their joint probability distribution can be expressed as the product of their individual (marginal) distributions, $f_{X,Y}(x,y) = f_X(x) \cdot f_Y(y)$
• Joint probability distribution describes the probabilities of all possible combinations of values for two or more random variables
  • Joint probability mass function (JPMF) is used for discrete random variables, $p_{X,Y}(x,y)$
  • Joint probability density function (JPDF) is used for continuous random variables, $f_{X,Y}(x,y)$
• Marginal distribution of a random variable can be obtained from the joint distribution by summing (discrete) or integrating (continuous) over the other variable(s)
  • For discrete random variables, $p_X(x) = \sum_{y} p_{X,Y}(x,y)$
  • For continuous random variables, $f_X(x) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} f_{X,Y}(x,y) dy$

Common Probability Distributions

• Bernoulli distribution models a single trial with two possible outcomes (success or failure) with probability p for success and 1-p for failure
• Binomial distribution models the number of successes in a fixed number of independent Bernoulli trials with the same success probability p
  • PMF: $p_X(x) = \binom{n}{x} p^x (1-p)^{n-x}$, where $\binom{n}{x}$ is the binomial coefficient
• Poisson distribution models the number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space, given an average rate λ
  • PMF: $p_X(x) = \frac{e^{-\lambda} \lambda^x}{x!}$
• Uniform distribution models a random variable with equal probability over a specified range [a, b]
  • PDF: $f_X(x) = \frac{1}{b-a}$ for $a \leq x \leq b$
• Normal (Gaussian) distribution is a continuous probability distribution characterized by its mean μ and standard deviation σ
  • PDF: $f_X(x) = \frac{1}{\sigma \sqrt{2\pi}} e^{-\frac{(x-\mu)^2}{2\sigma^2}}$
  • Standard normal distribution has μ = 0 and σ = 1

Applications in Stochastic Processes

• Markov chains model systems that transition between states, where the probability of moving to a particular state depends only on the current state (memoryless property)
  • Transition probabilities $p_{ij}$ represent the probability of moving from state i to state j in one step
  • Steady-state probabilities $\pi_j$ represent the long-term proportion of time spent in each state j
• Poisson processes model the occurrence of events over time, where the time between events follows an exponential distribution with rate λ
  • The number of events in a fixed time interval follows a Poisson distribution with mean λt
• Brownian motion (Wiener process) models the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid, with independent, normally distributed increments
  • Applications include modeling stock prices, diffusion processes, and noise in electrical systems
• Queueing theory applies probability distributions to analyze waiting lines and service systems, such as customer service centers or computer networks
  • Arrival times often modeled using a Poisson process
  • Service times may follow various distributions (exponential, normal, etc.)
• Reliability theory uses probability distributions to model the lifetime and failure rates of components and systems
  • Exponential distribution often used to model constant failure rates (memoryless property)
  • Weibull distribution can model increasing or decreasing failure rates over time