Carlo Lesma

Monte Carlo Methods are among the most used, and useful, computational tools available today. They provide efficient and practical algorithms to solve a wide range of scientific and engineering problems in dozens of areas many of which are covered in this text. These include simulation, optimization, finance, statistical mechanics, birth and death processes, Bayesian inference, quadrature, gambling systems and more.

Monte Carlo Methods are among the most used, and useful, computational tools available today. They provide efficient and practical algorithms to solve a wide range of scientific and engineering problems in dozens of areas many of which are covered in this text. These include simulation, optimization, finance, statistical mechanics, birth and death processes, Bayesian inference, quadrature, gambling systems and more.

The role of Monte Carlo methods and simulation in all of the sciences has in­ creased in importance during the past several years. These methods are at the heart of the rapidly developing subdisciplines of computational physics, compu­ tational chemistry, and the other computational sciences. The growing power of computers and the evolving simulation methodology have led to the recog­ nition of computation as a third approach for advancing the natural sciences, together with theory and traditional experimentation. Monte Carlo is also a fundamental tool of computational statistics. At the kernel of a Monte Carlo or simulation method is random number generation. Generation of random numbers is also at the heart of many standard statis­ tical methods. The random sampling required in most analyses is usually done by the computer. The computations required in Bayesian analysis have become viable because of Monte Carlo methods. This has led to much wider applications of Bayesian statistics, which, in turn, has led to development of new Monte Carlo methods and to refinement of existing procedures for random number generation.

The role of Monte Carlo methods and simulation in all of the sciences has in­ creased in importance during the past several years. These methods are at the heart of the rapidly developing subdisciplines of computational physics, compu­ tational chemistry, and the other computational sciences. The growing power of computers and the evolving simulation methodology have led to the recog­ nition of computation as a third approach for advancing the natural sciences, together with theory and traditional experimentation. Monte Carlo is also a fundamental tool of computational statistics. At the kernel of a Monte Carlo or simulation method is random number generation. Generation of random numbers is also at the heart of many standard statis­ tical methods. The random sampling required in most analyses is usually done by the computer. The computations required in Bayesian analysis have become viable because of Monte Carlo methods. This has led to much wider applications of Bayesian statistics, which, in turn, has led to development of new Monte Carlo methods and to refinement of existing procedures for random number generation.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of these methods, discussing their fundamental aspects and their applications in solving a large array of problems. It is a useful reference for scholars, researchers, and students in pure and applied mathematics, physical sciences, engineering and technology, computer science, numerical analysis, scientific computing, and the general sciences.

This book provides a general introduction to Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods, also known as particle filters. These methods have become a staple for the sequential analysis of data in such diverse fields as signal processing, epidemiology, machine learning, population ecology, quantitative finance, and robotics.

Kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulations still represent a quite new area of research, with a rapidly growing number of publications. Broadly speaking, kMC can be applied to any system describable as a set of minima of a potential-energy surface, the evolution of which will then be regarded as hops from one minimum to a neighboring one. The hops in kMC are modeled as stochastic processes and the algorithms use random numbers to determine at which times the hops occur and to which neighboring minimum they go.

Monte Carlo Methods are among the most used, and useful, computational tools available today. They provide efficient and practical algorithms to solve a wide range of scientific and engineering problems in dozens of areas many of which are covered in this text. These include simulation, optimization, finance, statistical mechanics, birth and death processes, Bayesian inference, quadrature, gambling systems and more.

The role of Monte Carlo methods and simulation in all of the sciences has in­ creased in importance during the past several years. These methods are at the heart of the rapidly developing subdisciplines of computational physics, compu­ tational chemistry, and the other computational sciences. The growing power of computers and the evolving simulation methodology have led to the recog­ nition of computation as a third approach for advancing the natural sciences, together with theory and traditional experimentation. Monte Carlo is also a fundamental tool of computational statistics. At the kernel of a Monte Carlo or simulation method is random number generation. Generation of random numbers is also at the heart of many standard statis­ tical methods. The random sampling required in most analyses is usually done by the computer. The computations required in Bayesian analysis have become viable because of Monte Carlo methods. This has led to much wider applications of Bayesian statistics, which, in turn, has led to development of new Monte Carlo methods and to refinement of existing procedures for random number generation.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of these methods, discussing their fundamental aspects and their applications in solving a large array of problems. It is a useful reference for scholars, researchers, and students in pure and applied mathematics, physical sciences, engineering and technology, computer science, numerical analysis, scientific computing, and the general sciences.