All Questions
Tagged with pr.probability inequalities
346 questions
-2
votes
1
answer
224
views
using jensen's inequality
Suppose we have an expression
f(x, h(x,y)), for some function f and h, and x, y are random variables,
now we know that the function f(a, b) is concave w.r.t. a for given b. Can we use Jensen's ...
3
votes
0
answers
158
views
Worst-Case Solution to (Stochastic) Matrix Inequality
EDIT: Some specific conjectures added.
This problem comes with an associated stochastic process, but I phrase everything as linear algebra in case somebody from a non-probability community has seen ...
- 31
2
votes
1
answer
474
views
How does Azuma's Inequality result from Pinelis Inequality?
According to [1]
Let $(\mathcal{X},||\cdot||)$ be a separable Banach space and let
$S(\mathcal{X})$ denote the class of all sequences
$f=(f_j)=(f_0,f_1,...)$ of Bochner-integrable random ...
- 619
3
votes
1
answer
208
views
Estimate for Levy metric
In the Encyclopedia of Mathematics there is an inequality for Levy metric ($d_L$):
$$d_L(E,F) \leq \{\beta_r(F)\}^{r/(r+1)},$$
where $E$ is a a distribution that is degenerate at zero, $\beta_r(F)$, $...
- 31
4
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Total variation and Hellinger distance inequality between truncated Gaussians
We know that the total variation distance, $d_{TV}(P,Q) = \frac{1}{2}\left|\left|P-Q\right|\right|_1$, between any two distributions $P$ and $Q$ is lower bounded by their squared Hellinger distance, $...
- 41
4
votes
1
answer
555
views
Conditional Form of Rosenthal's Inequality
Rosenthal's Inequality as stated in the book "Martingale Limit Theory and Its Application" by Hall and Heyde states the following:
If $\{S_i, \mathcal{F}_i, 1\leq i \leq n\}$ is a martingale and $2\...
- 289
2
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Inequality for the tail of normal distribution function
Let $ Ф(x) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}} \int_{-\infty}^{x} e^{-t^2/2} \, dt $ be the cumulative distribution function of the standard normal distribution.
Numerical calculations suggest the following ...
- 61
1
vote
0
answers
171
views
An inequality for moments of a random variable
I'm interested in a class C of $R^1$-valued random variables $\xi$ which satisfy
an inequality of the type
$$
(1) \qquad E|\xi|^p \leq F(E|\xi|^2),
$$
where $p>2$, $F$ is a certain non-...
- 195
6
votes
0
answers
337
views
Maximal inequalities for square of partial sums
Let $S_n = \sum_{i \leq n} X_i$ be the partial sums of a nice sequence of random variables $X_i$. In my application, $X_i$ is a functional of a finite-state, irreducible, aperiodic Markov chain, so ...
- 1,069
1
vote
0
answers
181
views
Nonstationary Markov chain maximal inequality
Let $X_i$ be a (finite-state, irreducible, aperiodic) Markov chain, not necessarily stationary. (That is, it doesn't start from the invariant distribution; I'm happy to have it be time-homogeneous if ...
- 1,069
4
votes
1
answer
474
views
Concentration inequalities in $\ell_{\infty}$ for sums of iid random ("nice") functions?
I'm looking for "tail-bound-like" inequalities that look like this (I state a specific setting but more general settings are interesting):
Let $D$ be a distribution on a set of "nice" functions $g$:...
- 4,529
10
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Extension of the Azuma-Hoeffding inequality (when the differences are bounded with large probability)
Let $(X_i)$ be a super-martingale and suppose their differences are bounded ''with high probability'', that is
$$\mathbb{P}(\exists\,i=1,\dots,n\text{ s.t. }|X_i-X_{i-1}|>c_i) \,\leq\, \epsilon$$
...
- 223
3
votes
2
answers
231
views
Bounds for the fat tail after trimming the mean?
I am interested in the quantity $$f(X,t) = \int_t^\infty\negthinspace x\ p(x)\ dx,$$ where $p$ is a probability distribution for a positive variable $X$.
1) Does this quantity $f(X,t)$ have a name? ...
user44143
4
votes
0
answers
213
views
Optimization problem involving Multivariate Normal
I use $\phi(t)$ to describe the standard normal distribution density and $\Phi(t)$ as the normal distribution CDF and would like to prove that for all
$n\geq3$, the function:
$$h(\mu_{1},\ldots,\...
- 41
9
votes
1
answer
700
views
An inequality for positive definite matrices
Let $K$ and $K^\prime$ positive definite $n \times n$ matrices, such that for all vectors $f \ge 0$ with nonnegative coordinates we have
$$\sum_{i,j} K_{ij} f_i f_j \le \sum_{ij} K^\prime_{ij} f_i ...
- 4,010
9
votes
3
answers
868
views
Rosenthal like inequality for weak $\mathbb L^p$-norms
Let $p$ be a real number greater than $1$. It is well known (see Hall and Heyde's Martingale limit theory and its applications, Theorem 2.10) that there exists a constant $C_p$ such that if $(X_i)_{i=...
- 3,958
3
votes
0
answers
494
views
Maximization of a total variation distance subject to another total variation distance in Markov chain
Suppose two dependent random variables $X$ and $V$ from finite alphabets $\mathcal{V}$ and $\mathcal{X}$ with known joint and marginal distributions are given. Let $P_{XV}$ and $P_X$ and $P_V$ are the ...
- 1,109
6
votes
0
answers
342
views
Maximizing Renyi entropy for a certain channel
The channel under consideration is $T = A + B$, where $A$ and $B$ take on values in $\{0, 1\}$ according to a probability mass function. Let (joint) random vector $(A_1, A_2,\ldots, A_n)$ be denoted ...
6
votes
1
answer
375
views
Deviation bound for the maximum of the norm of Wiener process
Let $W(t)$ be an $n$-dimensional Wiener process. Denote by $\chi_n^2$ a chi-squared random variable with $n$ degrees of freedom. I have recently found the following inequality given without proof:
$$
{...
- 61
2
votes
1
answer
563
views
Prove or disprove $ \int_0^\infty \int_{-x}^0 f(x)f(y)\,dy\,dx > \int_0^\infty \int_{-\infty}^{-x} f(x)f(y)\,dy\,dx. $
Consider a symmetric, unimodal distribution $f(x)$ such that $\int_0^\infty f(x)\,dx > 1/2$. I want to prove or disprove the following:
$$
\int_0^\infty \int_{-x}^0 f(x)f(y)\,dy\,dx > \int_0^\...
- 175
37
votes
3
answers
3k
views
An entropy inequality
Let $X,Y$ be probability measures on $\{1,2,\dots,n\}$, and set $K=\sum_i\sqrt{X(i)Y(i)}$ so that $Z:=\frac{1}{K}\sqrt{XY}$ is also a probability measure on $\{1,2,\dots,n\}$. How can we prove the ...
- 11.4k
1
vote
1
answer
478
views
Distance between the product of marginal distributions and the joint distribution
Given a joint distribution $P(A,B,C)$, we can compute various marginal distributions. Now suppose:
\begin{align}
P1(A,B,C) &= P(A) P(B) P(C) \\
P2(A,B,C) &= P(A,B) P(C) \\
P3(A,B,C) &= P(...
- 49
16
votes
6
answers
3k
views
A normal distribution inequality
Let $n(x) := \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}} e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}$, and $N(x) := \int_{-\infty}^x n(t)dt$. I have plotted the curves of the both sides of the following inequality. The graph shows that the ...
- 2,239
36
votes
3
answers
4k
views
the following inequality is true，but I can't prove it
The inequality is
\begin{equation*}
\sum_{k=1}^{2d}\left(1-\frac{1}{2d+2-k}\right)\frac{d^k}{k!}>e^d\left(1-\frac{1}{d}\right)
\end{equation*}
for all integer $d\geq 1$. I use computer to verify ...
- 363
2
votes
0
answers
687
views
Placing Bounds on Correlation/Covariance Through Correlation with an Intermediate Variable
I am trying to make the most of computations that have already been performed in previous steps of an algorithm. Throughout this problem statement I am only mentioning correlation, but I think it is ...
- 21
3
votes
0
answers
104
views
Minimizing/Maximizing the tail of the convex combinations of Chi Squared i.i.d random variables
Consider $N$ i.i.d random variables, $X_{1}, X_{2}, \ldots, X_{N}$ , that are chi-squared of degree $K \geq 2$. Also consider the following 3 vectors:
\begin{eqnarray*}
\bar{a} &=& (\frac{1}{...
- 51
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Bound on the tail of the sum of independent and identically distributed (iid) variables
This interesting question was asked at https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/231455/estimator-for-sum-of-independent-and-identically-distributed-iid-variables a while ago but got no answers. The ...
- 41
0
votes
1
answer
290
views
Inequality of Partial Taylor Series
Hi,
For a given $\theta < 1$, and $N$ a positive integer, I am trying to find an $x > 0$ (preferably the smallest such $x$) such that the following inequality holds:
$$\sum_{k=0}^{N} \frac{x^k}...
- 51
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Chernoff-Hoeffding bound for complex values
Consider the Chernoff-Hoeffding bound, stated as follows: Let $X_1, \dots, X_K$ be i.i.d. real-valued random variables with expectation value
$\mu$ and satisfying $|X_i| \le b$.
Let $\epsilon > 0$. ...
- 298
9
votes
2
answers
519
views
The fraction of the sphere a fixed distance from a subspace
The following problem has a beautiful geometric interpretation in terms of the proportion of points on the Euclidean sphere in $\mathbb{R}^d$ that lie at least a certain distance away from a $k$-...
- 91
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
concentration inequality for averages of dependent random variables
Let $X \in R^n$ be a random vector such that
$$P(|X_i| > \epsilon) > e^{-\epsilon^2}$$
What is a tight bound on
$$P(\sum_{i=1}^n |X_i| > \epsilon)$$
and on
$$P(\max_{1\le i\le n} |X_i| ...
- 461
6
votes
2
answers
559
views
Inequality involving the weak second moment
I want to ask the following probability inequality:
Is it true that for any random variable $X\ge 0$, we have
$$
\sup_{t>0}(t\mathbb E(X\mathbf 1_{X\ge t}))
\le
2\sup_{t>0}(t^2 \mathbb P(X ...
- 105
1
vote
1
answer
132
views
Approximating Moment of Sum of RVs
Given
$X_i$ are independent random variables.
$|X_i| < 1$
$E[X_i] = 0$
$X = \sum_i^n X_i$
$var(X)=\sigma$
Prove:
$$ E(X^p)^{1/p} = O(\sqrt{p}\sigma +p)$$ for all even p
Things I've tried:
...
- 11
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
A property of unimodal sequences
It is well-known that $(-1)^j \sum_{i=0}^j (-1)^i\binom{n}{i} \geq 0$. This inequality can be used to prove Bonferroni's inequalities for example. Recently I noticed that a similar inequality applies ...
- 619
0
votes
1
answer
381
views
Help prove a maximal inequality
Let $X_1,…,X_n$ are exchangeable of random variables, and $n$ is an even number.
$S_k=X_1+\dots+X_k$. $M_k=X_{n/2}+\dots+X_{n/2+k}$.
I want to prove:
$$\Pr(\max_{1 \le k \le n}{|S_k|>\epsilon}) \...
- 177
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Probability inequalities
Hi everyone,
I am looking for some probability inequalities for sums of unbounded random variables. I would really appreciate it if anyone can provide me some thoughts.
My problem is to find an ...
- 197
26
votes
3
answers
3k
views
An $L^0$ Khintchine inequality
Suppose that $\epsilon_1,\epsilon_2,\ldots$ are IID random variables with the Bernoulli distribution $\mathbb{P}(\epsilon_n=\pm1)=1/2$, and $a_1,a_2,\ldots$ is a real sequence with $\sum_na_n^2=1$. ...
- 17.1k
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Inequality on probability distributions
I would like to know if the following inequality is satisfied by all probability distributions (or at least some class of probability distributions) for all integer $n \geq 2$.
$\int_0^{\infty} F(z)^...
- 97
1
vote
1
answer
356
views
Statistical inequality
Let $X$ be a finite discrete variable and $X\ge0$. Is it true that
$$16\operatorname{Var}(X) \le \left[8{\mathbb E}(X) + \operatorname{Range}(X)\right]\operatorname{Range}(X)$$
where $\operatorname{...
- 95
1
vote
1
answer
753
views
Probability space analogue of Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
Suppose we have two sets of discrete events, $A$ and $B$. Then I think it is true that:
$$2\sum_{i \in A, j \in B}\Pr[i\ \textrm{AND}\ j] \leq \sum_{i \in A}\Pr[i]+ \sum_{j \in B}\Pr[j] +\sum_{i, j \...
- 13
20
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Constants in the Rosenthal inequality
Let $X_1,\ldots,X_n$ be independent with $\mathbf{E}[X_i] = 0$ and $\mathbf{E}[|X_i|^t] < \infty$ for some $t \ge 2$. Write $X = \sum_{i=1}^n X_i$. Then we have the family of "Rosenthal-type ...
- 201
9
votes
5
answers
1k
views
estimate the error term in CLT
Let $X_m = \frac{1}{\sqrt{m}}\sum_{k=1}^m Z_k$ where $Z_k$ are iid equally likely on $\{\pm 1\}$. Then $X_m$ convergens to $X \sim \mathcal{N}(0,1)$ in distribution by CLT.
Let $f$ be a smooth ...
- 1,839
2
votes
1
answer
178
views
Maximal inequality over two indices
In Freedman's series of 3 books on Markov processes, I find that I keep on running into terms like:
P[$\max_{0 \leq s \leq 1, s \leq t \leq rs}$ | B(t) - B(s) | > $\epsilon$]
in the background of ...
3
votes
1
answer
474
views
Analogues of the Golden-Thompson inequality
Are there any analogues of the Golden-Thompson Inequality for moment generating functions? The Golden-Thompson Inequality asserts the following: If $A$ and $B$ are two $n \times n$ Hermitian matrices, ...
- 31
5
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Inequality involving probability measures [closed]
I have been working on a problem(alternate minimization) where I want to establish an inequality in which I am stuck.
An $\alpha$- parameterized version of the divergence(Kullback-Leibler) takes the ...
- 779
2
votes
1
answer
803
views
Inequality constraints, probability distributions, and integer partitions
I am interested in the possibility of generating probability distributions using inequality constraints. For instance assume that we have three urns with total of a 10 balls. Thus,
$a + b + c = 10$
...
