This book is an outgrowth of lectures in Mathematics 240, "Applied
Stochastic Processes," which I have taught a number of times at Duke University.
The majority of the students in the course are graduate students from
departments other than mathematics, including computer science, economics,
business, biological sciences, psychology, physics, statistics, and
engineering. There have also been graduate students from the mathematics
department as well as some advanced undergraduates. The mathematical
background of the students varies greatly, and the particular areas of stochastic
processes that are relevant for their research also vary greatly.
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