All Questions
9,497 questions
1
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34
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Discrepancy between probability measures, tested against bounded functions of bounded variance
When studying some concentration inequalities, it became relevant to consider the following discrepancy between two probability measures $\pi$ and $\nu$ (treating $\sigma \in \left( 0, \frac{1}{2} \...
- 801
1
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0
answers
156
views
Nontrivial nonrandom properties of prime numbers
What are some nontrivial nonrandom properties of prime numbers. Consider the simple model where each number is prime with probability 1/log(n) by Montgomery and extensions of it. Once you add some ...
- 680
4
votes
0
answers
87
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Statistics of random Voronoi S-tessellations
Given a locally finite set of points $\{x_1,x_2,\dots\}\subset\mathbb{R}^d$, the Voronoi cell of a point $x_{i}$, denoted by $C(x_{i})$, consists of all the points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ that are closer to ...
- 41
3
votes
0
answers
58
views
Infinitesimal generators of random evolutions
Consider two state spaces $X$ and $Y$ and infinitesimal generators of Markov processes $(A_y)_{y\in Y}$ and $B$, on $X$ and $Y$ respectively. We assume that $A_y$ share the same domain $D(A)$, and ...
- 31
2
votes
0
answers
157
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Conformally mapping between the upper half complex plane, and the plane with a tree on spatial points removed
A stochastic process such as SLE$_{\kappa}$ can be defined by taking the scaling limit of a curve in the upper half complex plane: put simply, one removes a line segment, then another, $n$ times, each ...
- 640
0
votes
0
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133
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Asymptotics of a ratio on the unit sphere
Let $(a_n)_{n \geq 1}$ be a nonnegative, strictly decreasing sequence with $a_n \to 0$ as $n \to \infty$.
Consider the ratio (for $k \geq n$)
$$
R_{n, k} = \mathbb{E}_{u \sim \text{Unif}(\mathbb{S}^{k-...
- 460
2
votes
0
answers
106
views
When is there a Lipschitz Kantorovich Potential?
Let $c:\mathbb{R}^d\times \mathbb{R}^d\to [0,\infty)$ be a Lipschitz cost function and consider the optimal transport problem
$$
C(\mu,\nu):=\inf_{\pi}\, \int c(x,y)\,\pi(dxdy)
$$
where, as usual, the ...
5
votes
2
answers
791
views
How to calculate an integral over the complex unit sphere
We want to calculate the following integral over the complex unit sphere $S^{2n-1}$:
$$\int_{S^{2n-1}} \frac{1 }{|1 - \langle z, \zeta \rangle|^2} \, d\sigma(\zeta),$$
where $ z $ is a fixed point in ...
- 113
1
vote
0
answers
114
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An urn model with weighted objects and replacement
Consider the following game:
In an urn, there are $K$ balls, $x_0$ of them are blue and light (mass $m_0$), $x_1$ are blue and heavy ($m_1$), $x_2$ are red and light ($m_2$), the rest $x_3$ are red ...
- 31
2
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0
answers
61
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Characterisation of Bessel process
Let $\delta \in (0, 2)$; $(X_t)_{t \ge 0}$ a nonnegative continuous Markov process. Suppose that
For each $T \ge 0$, if we write $\tau \overset{\mathrm{def}}= \inf\{t \ge T : X_t = 0\}$, then $(X_{T +...
- 177
1
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0
answers
45
views
Inequality Involving Concave Monotonic Function
Assume that $ f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}_+ $ is a concave, non-decreasing and positive function. Let $\mathbb{X}$ be a finite set consisting of $ 0\leq x_1 \leq x_2 \leq x_3 \leq \ldots \leq x_n$. ...
0
votes
0
answers
93
views
Distance between binomial and normal distributions
I want to compare binomial distribution $Bin(n,p)$ with a constant $p$ when $n\rightarrow \infty$, to a normal distribution with $\mu=np,\sigma^2=np(1-p)$.
How close are they with the discrete ...
- 107
6
votes
1
answer
369
views
Convergence of iterated conditional expectations
Notation: We write $\mathbb E_{\mathcal F} X$ for the conditional expectation $\mathbb E[X|\mathcal F]$ of a random variable $X$ with respect to a $\sigma$-algebra $\mathcal F$.
Let $X$ be an ...
- 6,155
0
votes
1
answer
155
views
Techniques for bounding the operator norm of the expectation of random matrix?
Let $\mu$ be a distribution on the unit sphere in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Let $u \sim \mu$ and consider the random matrix
$$
A = I_n - uu^T.
$$
Question: What techniques are available to provide (reasonably ...
- 460
5
votes
1
answer
139
views
Dispersion of random walk with scaled step sizes
Let $Y_j$ be a sequence of independent Gaussian random variables with mean zero and unit variance ($\mathbb{E} Y_j = 0$ and $\mathbb{E} Y_j^2 = 1$) and let $\sigma:\mathbb{R}\to [1,2]$.
We define the ...
- 452
1
vote
0
answers
69
views
Simulating binomial distribution
$\DeclareMathOperator\Bin{Bin}\DeclareMathOperator\Pr{Pr}$I have a series of distributions $D_k=\Bin(3k,\frac{1+k^{-1/3}}{3})$, and a distribution $D_{k,\ell} = k +\Bin(k,\ell)$ parametrized by $\ell\...
- 107
0
votes
0
answers
73
views
Tight tail bounds for sums of random variables
Let $X_1, X_2, \dots$ be iid uniformly on $[0,1]$. Define $Z_i^{(a)} = (X_i - a)^2$. Let $Y_n = \sum_{k=1}^n Z_k^{(1/k)}$. I am interested in matching tail bounds for $Y_n$ as $n \to \infty$. In ...
1
vote
1
answer
148
views
An inequality about binomial distribution
Statement
Assume that $\sigma,R\in (1,+\infty)$, $N\in\mathbb{N}^*$, $p\in (0,1)$, $n_1\in\{0,1,2,\cdots,N-1\}$. Prove or disprove that
$$B^\frac{1}{\sigma}(n_1)-B^\frac{1}{\sigma}(n_1+1)<1 .$$
...
- 35
3
votes
1
answer
174
views
Convergence rate of the sum of squares of inverse distances of random points which become dense in a region
$n$ points $\{X_i\}$ are drawn at random from a uniform distribution over a domain $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^m$ with a Lipschitz boundary. $D_n$ is defined as $$D_n = \sqrt{\frac{1}{\sum\limits_{1\le ...
- 698
2
votes
1
answer
105
views
Inequality for Gaussian measures
Let $\mu$ denote a centered Gaussian measure on $\mathbb{R}^k$, $K=(-\infty, a] \times \mathbb{R}^{k-1}$ ($a\ge 0$) and $L=\mathbb{R}\times C$ where $C$ is a convex set in $\mathbb{R}^{k-1}$, ...
- 197
0
votes
0
answers
31
views
What is the Fisher information matrix of the von Mises-Fisher distribution?
Assuming the von Mises-Fisher distribution as
$$f_{p}(\mathbf{x}; \boldsymbol{\mu}, \kappa) = C_{p}(\kappa) \exp \left( {\kappa \boldsymbol{\mu}^\mathsf{T} \mathbf{x} } \right),$$
where $\kappa \ge 0$,...
- 287
19
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Higher or lower?
Consider the following game - I draw a number from $[0, 1]$ uniformly, and show it to you. I tell you I am going to draw another $1000$ numbers in sequence, independently and uniformly. Your task is ...
- 6,155
5
votes
1
answer
192
views
Non-equivalent definitions of Markov process
As far as I know, there are three definitions of Markov processes (or of Markov chains).
DEFINITION 1 (WEAKER). A process $(X_t)_{t\in[0,\infty)}$ on $(\Omega,\mathcal{F},\mathbb{P})$ with values in ...
- 1,149
8
votes
1
answer
522
views
One step forward, one step back
$N \geq 2$ players play a cooperative game on the integers $\mathbb Z$. All of them start from $0$. At each turn, they are simultanously given the same yes or no question to answer.
The questions ...
- 6,155
1
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0
answers
80
views
Moments from characteristic function for matrices
When $x$ is a random variable with the smooth characteristic function $\phi_x(t) = \mathbb{E}e^{itx}$, we can easily compute the moments as $\mathbb{E}[x^k] = i^{-n}\phi_x^{(n)}(0)$. There is no magic ...
- 193
2
votes
0
answers
56
views
Sum of independent Wisharts
Suppose random vectors $y_1,y_2,\ldots,y_m$ are independent and the distribution of each $y_i$ is a $d$-dimensional complex Gaussian with mean $0$ and covariance $\Gamma_i$, that is $y_i \sim \mathcal{...
- 193
2
votes
0
answers
29
views
Steiner symmetrization of smooth function on non-simply connected regions
Given a smooth function $u$ defined on $\mathbb{R}^2$, restrict $u$ to a subset $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ (possibly not simply connected) foliated by level sets of a smooth function $\psi: \Omega \...
- 434
1
vote
0
answers
66
views
Random lattice always has trivial automorphism group?
In example 2.5 of a paper [LS17] written by Lenstra and Silverberg, it is written that “Random” lattices have $Aut(L) = \{ \pm 1 \}$, I guess the 'Random' here refers to the distribution in Siegel's ...
- 253
1
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0
answers
55
views
Limit process of a sequence of Gaussian variables on mesh grid going to zero
Consider the interval $[0,1]$ and a partition $\mathscr{P}_n = \{ [t_i,t_{i+1}), \, i=1,\ldots,N_n \, : \, 0=t_0 < \ldots < t_{N_n} = 1\}$. Suppose that for all $i$ and $t \in [t_i,t_{i+1})$, we ...
- 141
3
votes
1
answer
194
views
Dynamics of a random stretch map
Notation: Here $S^1$ denotes the circle, which we view as the unit sphere in $\mathbb C$. We equip the circle with its natural length metric.
Let $\{\epsilon_n\}_{n \geq 1}$ be iid uniformly ...
- 6,155
34
votes
7
answers
3k
views
A hat puzzle question—how to prove the standard solution is optimal?
I am currently writing an essay on hat puzzles, and for the warm-up section I introduce some of the standard finite hat puzzles. One of these proceeds as follows:
You and two friends are each given a ...
- 236k
9
votes
1
answer
155
views
How to sample exactly k indices given the inclusion probabilities of all indices?
Let $k<d$ two positive integers, and $\{p_i\}_{i=1}^d$ a series of probabilities, with $p_i \in (0,1)$ and $\sum_{i=1}^d p_i = k$.
We wish to sample exactly $k$ distinct indices $\mathcal{I}\...
- 968
2
votes
1
answer
276
views
Probability of visible permutations
A visible permutation $\sigma$ of $[1,2, ...,n]$ has a permutation matrix such that all "1" locations are visible from the origin $(0,0)$.
Two "1" locations are visible if the two ...
- 2,993
0
votes
0
answers
48
views
A question on a quantitative form of Farkas' lemma
Suppose A is an $m \times n$ matrix whose entries are non-negative integers and $\mathbf{b}$ is a vector with rational entries. A version of Farkas lemma implies that if the equation $$A\mathbf{x}=\...
- 6,214
0
votes
0
answers
30
views
Why is the $\alpha$-divergence unique in positive measure space $\mathcal{M}$?
In this article https://bsi-ni.brain.riken.jp/database/file/298/303.pdf (S. Amari 2009), it is said that a $f$-divergence (eq. 17) which can be written by a decomposable Bregman divergence (eq. 53) ...
- 1
4
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0
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127
views
A "resampling identity" for the Bessel(3) process
I've come across the following resampling identity and was wondering if this is known since it seems rather natural. Take $X$ a two-sided Brownian motion conditioned to always stay below $1$. (So if ...
- 10.3k
3
votes
1
answer
232
views
Bounds on relative entropy for MLE in Bernoulli coin tosses
In the context of estimating the parameter $p$ from a dataset of $n$ i.i.d Bernoulli coin tosses, we often use the relative entropy $D(p \parallel \hat{p})$ to measure the performance of an estimator $...
- 63
4
votes
2
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312
views
What is the expected size of the smallest hitting set?
Suppose we pick $n$ subsets of size $j$ of an $N$-element set $S$ uniformly at random. A hitting set is a subset of $S$ that intersects all our subsets. I am interested in the smallest size of an ...
- 11.1k
1
vote
0
answers
43
views
Moments on the Stiefel manifold
Let $S_{n, k} = \{V \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times k} : V^T V = I_k\}$ denote the Stiefel manifold, $1 \leq k \leq n$.
Let $P \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times n}$ denote a symmetric real, positive definite matrix, ...
- 460
2
votes
1
answer
202
views
Strong Liouville property of virtually abelian groups
Let $G$ be a finitely generated group and let $\mu$ be a symmetric non-degenerate measure on $G$. By strong Liouville property for $(G, \mu)$, we mean that every positive $\mu$-harmonic function on $G$...
- 1,407
7
votes
5
answers
513
views
Probability of $\operatorname{Bin}(n,p)=\operatorname{Bin}(n,q)$ is decreasing when $n$ increases
$\newcommand{\Bin}{\operatorname{Bin}}$I would like to show that $\mathbb P(\operatorname{Binomial}(n,p) = \operatorname{Binomial}(n,q))$ decreases when $n$ increases for a fixed pair $(p,q)$. This ...
- 243
3
votes
1
answer
99
views
Intersection of IID fractal sets
Let $A, B \subset \mathbb R$ be IID random closed subset. Suppose that there exists $d \in (1/2, 1]$ such that the Hausdorff dimension of $A$ is equal to $d$ almost surely. Is it true that $\mathbf P\...
- 177
3
votes
0
answers
131
views
Matrix-Gaussian distributions
The point of this question is to ask for references on matrix-variate Gaussian distributions. But I will explain what I mean by a matrix-variate Gaussian with an example (the notion I have in mind is ...
- 193
3
votes
0
answers
348
views
Moments of normalized multivariate Gaussians (and Wick's/Isserlis theorems)
Suppose $x = \begin{bmatrix}x_1 \\ x_2\end{bmatrix}$ is distributed according to the real two-dimensional Gaussian with mean-$0$ and covariance matrix $\Sigma$. I am interested in a closed form for ...
- 193
-1
votes
1
answer
103
views
Convergence in $\mathbb{L}_1$ implies convergence "perturbed" conditional expectations
Consider a sequence of conditional pdf's $p_n(y | x)$ on a Polish space $X \times Y$, endowed with its Borel sigma algebra. Suppose, as $n\rightarrow \infty$, in $\mathbb{L}_1$ (the following ...
- 141
3
votes
1
answer
70
views
Multiplicative approximation for a negative moment of the binomial distribution
Let $X$ be a binomial random variable with parameters $n,p$.
Define the function
$f(n, p, t) = E\frac{1}{1 + t X},
$
where $t > 0$.
Question: Can we find an elementary function $F(n, p, t)$ such ...
- 460
-2
votes
1
answer
43
views
$E(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{z})=g(\mathbf{x})$ almost surely, if $\mathbf{z}\perp \!\!\! \perp \{\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x}\}$ jointly?
Let $\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x}$ and $\mathbf{z}$ be real-valued random vectors with possibly different dimensions.
If $\mathbf{z} \perp\!\!\!\perp \{\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x}\}$ (i.e., $\mathbf{z}$ is ...
- 193
2
votes
1
answer
526
views
What are some (popular) references on variants of the classical gambler's ruin problem that exists in literature?
It is fascinating that the gambler's ruin problem which is so ubiquitous in modern probability theory (cf. the Levin-Peres text on Markov chain and Mixing Times) actually dates back to a letter from ...
- 850
3
votes
1
answer
277
views
Bounds on hitting time of sum of i.i.d. random variables
I have a sequence $(X_i)_{i\geq 1}$ of i.i.d. random variables taking values in $\mathbb Z$. I know that each $X_i$ has mean $0$ and finite variance $\sigma^2$. Let $S_n=X_1+\cdots+X_n$. Then I can ...
- 135
0
votes
0
answers
149
views
Reference book for a probability course
In the next months I am planning to deliver a (more-or-less) advanced course in probability theory. My students will have had already a first encounter with discrete probability theory (discrete ...
- 1,561