I'm new to the forum and a beginner in programming.
I have the task to program a random walk in Matlab (1D or 2D) with a variance that I can adjust. I found the code for the random walk, but I'm really confused where to put the variance. I thought that the random walk always has the same variance (= t) so maybe I'm just lost in the math.
How do I control the variance?
For a simple random walk, consider using the Normal distribution with mean 0 (also called 'drift') and a non-zero variance. Notice since the mean is zero and the distribution is symmetric, this is a symmetric random walk. On each step, the process is equally like to go up or down, left or right, etc.
One easy way:
Step 1: Generate each step
Step 2: Get the cumulative sum
This can be done for any number of dimensions.
% MATLAB R2019a
drift = 0;
std = 1; % std = sqrt(variance)
pd = makedist('Normal',drift,std);
% One Dimension
nsteps = 50;
Z = random(pd,nsteps,1);
X = [0; cumsum(Z)];
plot(0:nsteps,X) % alternatively: stairs(0:nsteps,X)
And in two dimensions:
% Two Dimensions
nsteps = 100;
Z = random(pd,nsteps,2);
X = [zeros(1,2); cumsum(Z)];
% 2D Plot
figure, hold on, box on
plot(X(1,1),X(1,1),'gd','DisplayName','Start','MarkerFaceColor','g')
plot(X(:,1),X(:,2),'k-','HandleVisibility','off')
plot(X(end,1),X(end,2),'rs','DisplayName','Stop','MarkerFaceColor','r')
legend('show')
The variance will affect the "volatility" so a higher variance means a more "jumpy" process relative to the lower variance.
Note: I've intentionally avoided the Brownian motion-type implementation (scaling, step size decreasing in the limit, etc.) since OP specifically asked for a random walk. A Brownian motion implementation can link the variance to a time-index due to Gaussian properties.
The OP writes:
the random walk has always the same variance
This is true for the steps (each step typically has the same distribution). However, the variance of the process at a time step (or point in time) should be increasing with the number of steps (or as time increases).
Related:
MATLAB: plotting a random walk