Markov Decision Processes: Discrete Stochastic Dynamic Programming

An up-to-date, unified and rigorous treatment of theoretical, computational and applied research on Markov decision process models. Concentrates on infinite-horizon discrete-time models. Discusses arbitrary state spaces, finite-horizon and continuous-time discrete-state models. Also covers modified policy iteration, multichain models with average reward criterion and sensitive optimality. Features a wealth of figures which illustrate examples and an extensive bibliography.

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"This text is unique in bringing together so many results hitherto found only in part in other texts and papers. . . . The text is fairly self-contained, inclusive of some basic mathematical results needed, and provides a rich diet of examples, applications, and exercises. The bibliographical material at the end of each chapter is excellent, not only from a historical perspective, but because it is valuable for researchers in acquiring a good perspective of the MDP research potential."
?Zentralblatt fur Mathematik

". . . it is of great value to advanced-level students, researchers, and professional practitioners of this field to have now a complete volume (with more than 600 pages) devoted to this topic. . . . Markov Decision Processes: Discrete Stochastic Dynamic Programming represents an up-to-date, unified, and rigorous treatment of theoretical and computational aspects of discrete-time Markov decision processes."
?Journal of the American Statistical Association