An elementary predictable process with stopping-time intervals has the form , where the stopping times are ordered and is bounded and -measurable. Deterministic endpoints give the usual simple predictable process. Define the zero-starting stochastic integral by
Common refinement and telescoping show that this definition is independent of the representation. Use for an infinite endpoint. The L2-bounded martingale convergence theorem gives convergence of in to and .
Put . The optional sampling theorem gives . For , the variable is -measurable; hence . Applying the same theorem to the assumed martingale gives
Consequently the Itô isometry follows:
The unbounded stopping times cause no optional-sampling gap. The terminal representation makes uniformly integrable and makes the family of stopped uniformly integrable, by conditional Jensen applied to . Also , from monotone convergence theorem and the assumed square-compensator identity. Thus has the needed uniform integrability, and truncating stopping times and passing in is legitimate. Bounded coefficients are part of the simple-integrand convention; more general coefficients require the displayed square-integrability condition.