TheoremComplete

Itô's Formula Theorem

Theorem6.1Itô's formula

Let Xt=X0+0tμsds+0tσsdBsX_t = X_0 + \int_0^t \mu_s ds + \int_0^t \sigma_s dB_s be an Itô process and fC1,2([0,T]×R)f \in C^{1,2}([0,T] \times \mathbb{R}). Then:

f(t,Xt)=f(0,X0)+0t(ft+μsfx+12σs22fx2)ds+0tσsfxdBs.f(t, X_t) = f(0, X_0) + \int_0^t \left(\frac{\partial f}{\partial t} + \mu_s \frac{\partial f}{\partial x} + \frac{1}{2}\sigma_s^2 \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x^2}\right) ds + \int_0^t \sigma_s \frac{\partial f}{\partial x} dB_s.

The formula extends the chain rule to stochastic processes, with a second-order correction from the quadratic variation. Applications include derivative pricing, solving SDEs, and transforming processes.