Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2007 / iii / Paper 36 / 2 / c / Solution

For every zero-starting continuous local martingale $M$, there is a unique, up to indistinguishability, continuous adapted increasing process $[M]$, with $[M{]}_0=0$, such thatThis is its quadratic variation. It also satisfies, for deterministic partitions whose mesh tends to zero,with convergence uniformly on compact time intervals in probability. The theorem includes existence and finiteness on each compact interval; monotonicity is understood pathwise outside one null set.

Uniqueness follows because the difference of two candidate increasing continuous processes is both a finite-variation process and a continuous local martingale, hence is identically zero from its zero initial value. For a continuous semimartingale $X=X_0+M+A$, its quadratic variation is $[X]=[M]$, since continuous finite-variation terms have zero quadratic variation. Polarization defines the quadratic covariation by $[M,N]=([M+N]-[M-N])/4$.