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191 votes
34 answers
81k views

What is convolution intuitively?

If random variable $X$ has a probability distribution of $f(x)$ and random variable $Y$ has a probability distribution $g(x)$ then $(f*g)(x)$, the convolution of $f$ and $g$, is the probability ...
99 votes
28 answers
14k views

Probabilistic proofs of analytic facts

What are some interesting examples of probabilistic reasoning to establish results that would traditionally be considered analysis? What I mean by "probabilistic reasoning" is that the approach should ...
Erik Davis's user avatar
  • 1,695
20 votes
1 answer
1k views

Fourier transform of $f_a(x)= a^{-2}\exp(-|x|^a)$, $a \in (0,2)$, is decreasing in $a$

Can one show that Fourier transform of $$ f_a(x) = a^{-2} \exp(-|x|^a), \qquad a \in (0,2)$$ is decreasing in $a$? I have a solution for $a \in (0,1]$ which cannot be used for $a\in (1,2)$.
Tanya Vladi's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
5k views

Positive-Definite Functions and Fourier Transforms

Bochner's theorem states that a positive definite function is the Fourier transform of a finite Borel measure. As well, an easy converse of this is that a Fourier transform must be positive definite. ...
Alex R.'s user avatar
  • 4,952
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

The Bruss-Yor conjecture about an iterated integral

Is the sequence $$w_n=n! \int_0^{1/2} \int_{x_1}^{2/3} \cdots\int_{x_{n-2}}^{\frac{n-1}{n}} \int_{\frac{n}{n+1}}^1 dx_n dx_{n-1} \cdots dx_1$$ increasing for $n\ge 3$? This is a conjecture of F. ...
Jochen Wengenroth's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
2k views

Normal approximation of tail probability in binomial distribution

My problem: From the Berry--Esseen theorem I know, that $$\sup_{x\in\mathbb R}|P(B_n \le x)-\Phi(x)|=O\left(\frac 1{\sqrt n}\right),$$ where $B_n$ has the standardized binomial distribution and $\Phi$ ...
Stephan Kulla's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
745 views

Find the area of the region enclosed by $\sin^p x+\sin^p y=\sin^p(x+y)$, the $x$-axis and the $y$-axis (comes from a probability question)

Consider the graph of $\sin^p x+\sin^p y=\sin^p(x+y)$, where $x$ and $y$ are acute, and $p>1$. Here are examples with, from left to right, $p=1.05,\space 1.25,\space 2,\space 4,\space 100$. Find ...
Dan's user avatar
  • 3,527
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Has anyone seen this series?

I come across the following infinite series. $$ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{t^n}{n!\: n^{a}}, \quad\text{for $t>0$ and $a>0$}. $$ In particular, I am interested in the case where $a=1/4$. ...
Anand's user avatar
  • 1,649
21 votes
3 answers
6k views

Why pi-systems and Dynkin/lambda systems? On the relative merits of approaches in measure theory.

What is the point of $\pi$-systems and $\mathcal{D}$ / Dynkin / $\lambda$-systems? I am an analyst in the process of consolidating my measure theory knowledge before moving on to harder/newer ...
Spencer's user avatar
  • 1,771
21 votes
7 answers
2k views

Identities and inequalities in analysis and probability

Usually, at the heart of a good limit theorem in probability theory is at least one good inequality – because, in applications, a topological neighborhood is usually defined by inequalities. Of course,...
15 votes
2 answers
3k views

What do we actually know about logarithmic energy ?

In potential theory, the $\textit{logarithmic energy}$ of a Radon measure $\mu$ acting on $\mathbb{C}$ is defined by $$I(\mu)=\iint\log\frac{1}{|x-y|}\mu(dx)\mu(dy).$$ Of course it is not well ...
Adrien Hardy's user avatar
  • 2,135
13 votes
1 answer
761 views

If $(a,b,c)$ are the sides of a triangle, then the probability $P(ax + by \ge c) = \frac{4}{\pi^2}\chi_2(x) + \frac{4}{\pi^2}\chi_2(y)$

Posting this question in MO since it is unanswered in MSE Let $(a,b,c)$ be the side of a triangle. In its most general linear form, the triangle inequality can be expressed as: Does $ax + by \ge c$ ...
Nilotpal Kanti Sinha's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

Wasserstein distance in R^d from one dimensional marginals

This question occurred to me while I was reading Klartag's papers on central limit theorems for convex bodies. Given probability measures $\mu$, $\nu$ on (the Borel $\sigma$-field of) $R^d$ with ...
Roberto Imbuzeiro Oliveira's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
484 views

Inductive definition of Bernstein polynomials

For $n\in \mathbb{N}$ let $B_n$ be the linear operator taking a function $f$ on the unit interval $I=[0,1]$ to its $n$-th Bernstein polynomial $B_nf$, $$ B_nf(x):=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n}{k} f\Big(\...
Pietro Majer's user avatar
  • 60.5k
7 votes
5 answers
682 views

Bound on sum of complex summands involving binomial coefficients

I am trying to find the asymptotic behavior of the sum: $$ \sum^n_{i=0} \begin{pmatrix} 2n \\ i \end{pmatrix} x^i y^{2n-i}$$ as $n\rightarrow\infty$. Here $x$, $y$ are complex numbers and I have $|x|...
teagut's user avatar
  • 93
6 votes
2 answers
5k views

Can I relate the L1 norm of a function to its Fourier expansion?

I would like to express the integral of the absolute value of a real-valued function $f$ (over a finite interval) in terms of the Fourier coefficients of $f$. Failing that, I would like to know of any ...
Gregory Putzel's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
202 views

Monotonicity of a parametric integral

For real $x>0$, let $$f(x):=\frac1{\sqrt x}\,\int_0^\infty\frac{1-\exp\{-x\, (1-\cos t)\}}{t^2}\,dt.$$ How to prove that $f$ is increasing on $(0,\infty)$? Here is the graph $\{(x,f(x))\colon0<...
Iosif Pinelis's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
387 views

Asymptotic formula for fractional Laplacian

For the solution of $$ \begin{cases} \lambda u^\epsilon - \frac{\epsilon^2}{2} \Delta u^\epsilon = 0 &\text{in } \Omega \\ u^\epsilon=1 & \text{on } \partial \Omega \end{cases} $$ Varadhan ...
Jun's user avatar
  • 303
3 votes
2 answers
297 views

Does my construction always result in a stationary Poisson point process of intensity $1$? How so?

My construction is as follows: Let $X_k$ be a real-valued continuous random variable centered at $k$ (an integer), having distribution $F_k(x,s)$ where $k$ is the location parameter and $s$, a ...
Vincent Granville's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
918 views

Pros and cons of probability model for permutations

I am studying probability model of random permetuation Let $b(n; k)$ denote the number of permutations of {1,...,n} with precisely k inversions ($inv(\pi)$). The analytic approach was considered by L....
Mikhail Gaichenkov's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
100 views

Conditions on a measure to satisfy certain relation on moments.

Suppose we have a measure $\mu$ on $\mathbb R_+$ such that $\forall s>-1$ $t^s\in L^1(\mathrm d\mu(t))$. I'd like to impose some conditions on $\mu$ so the function $$f:p\to \frac{\int_0^\infty t^...
TZakrevskiy's user avatar