Discrete and continuous time Markov chains, Poisson processes, random walks, branching processes, first passage times, recurrence and transience, stationary distributions. Non-Statistics master's students may want to consider taking STATS 215 instead.

The authors study the Wiener process and Itô integrals in some detail, with a focus on results needed for the Black–Scholes option pricing model. After developing the required martingale properties of this process, the construction of the integral and the Itô formula (proved in detail) become the centrepiece, both for theory and applications, and to provide concrete examples of stochastic differential equations used in finance.

Stochastic Interest Rates covers practical topics such as calibration, numerical implementation and model limitations in detail. The authors provide numerous exercises and carefully chosen examples to help students acquire the necessary skills to deal with interest rate modelling in a real-world setting.