Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / iii / Paper 35 / 1 / d / Solution

For a simple predictable process, define its stochastic integral byIt is constant after $t_n$, so the symbol $(H\cdot M{)}_{\infty }$ means its value there. Put ${\Delta }_{k}M=M_{t_{k+1}}-M_{t_k}$. If $k<\ell$, then $Z_k{\Delta }_{k}M{Z}_{\ell }$ is ${\mathcal{F}}_{t_{\ell }}$-measurable, and the conditional expectation of ${\Delta }_{\ell }M$ given that sigma-algebra is zero. Boundedness of the coefficients and square-integrability of $M$ justify the expectations, so all cross terms vanish:For each diagonal term, the martingale increment identity also givesIndeed, the omitted term $2Z_k^2{M}_{t_k}{\Delta }_{k}M$ has expectation zero. Apply the assumed martingale property of $M^2-[M]$ to replace this difference of squares by the corresponding quadratic variation increment. ThusThe intervals $(t_k,t_{k+1}]$ in the Lebesgue–Stieltjes integral exactly match these increments, including possible jumps of $M$.