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12 votes
1 answer
694 views

History of the Jaccard distance $d(A,B) = \mathbb P(\overline A\cup\overline B\mid A\cup B)$

I'm wondering where the relative probabilistic distance or Jaccard distance was first studied: $$d(A,B) =\mathbb P(\overline A\cup\overline B\mid A\cup B)$$ where $\overline A$ is the complement of $A$...
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Sampling a uniformly distributed point INSIDE a hypersphere?

There is a simple algorithm to pick a random point ON an $n$-dimensional hypersphere. Is there one to sample a point from inside it? (Sampling points from a hypercube and rejecting them if they are ...
4 votes
0 answers
156 views

Geometric meaning of the chi-square "measure of association"

In Statistics, there's a standard test of independence of two random variables taking values in finite sets $I,J$. It relies on the computation of $\chi$-square statistics, $$ \chi^2:=\sum_{(i,j)\in ...
7 votes
2 answers
460 views

Gaussian Surface Area of Positive Semidefinite Cone

Let $\mathbb{R}^n$ be the Euclidean space and $A \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ be a sufficiently regular set, e.g., one that has smooth boundary or is convex. We define the $\epsilon$-neighbor of $A$ in the ...
13 votes
1 answer
10k views

KL divergence and mixture of Gaussians

Do we have an exact formula to compute the KL divergence between 2 mixtures of Gaussians (i.e convex combinations of a finite number of Gaussian distributions)? If not exactly known, are there good ...
4 votes
0 answers
756 views

Tangent space and gradient on subspace of Wasserstein space given by finitely supported measures

Let $\mathcal{P}_2(M)$ be the 2-Wasserstein space over some Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ (connected, complete, and without boundary). Let $\mathcal{FP}_2(M,n)$ be the subspace of probability measures ...
2 votes
0 answers
83 views

Wasserstein distance to the set of Gaussians, relation to Boltzman dissipation rate

$\newcommand{\RR}{\mathbb{R}}$ I am interested in the 2-Wasserstein distance for probabilities over $\RR^n$, $W_2(μ,ν)=\left(\inf\int_{\RR^n×\RR^n}|w−v|^2dπ(v,w)\right)^1/2$ where the infimum is taken ...
4 votes
1 answer
355 views

Random spherical caps cover a spherical cap

Let $S^{n-1}$ be the unit sphere in $n$ dimensional Euclidean space. Define the spherical cap at $x \in S^{n-1}$ with angle $\theta$ to be $C(x,\theta) = \{z \in S^{n-1} \mid z^\top x \geq \cos(\theta)...
4 votes
1 answer
193 views

A bound on the square distance of a random walk on undirected graph

Fact: Let $G$ be an $n$-vertex undirected graph and $(X_s)_{s\in \mathbb N}$ a stationary random walk on $G$. Then for every $s\in \mathbb{N}$, $ \mathbb{E}[d_G(X_s,X_0)^2] \le C s \log n $, for some ...
10 votes
2 answers
388 views

Tangled random triangles: One giant component?

Suppose you have $n$ triangles whose corners are random points on a sphere $S$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Viewing the triangles as built from rigid bars as edges, two triangles are linked if they cannot be ...
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

How many non-equivalent sections of a regular 7-simplex?

Suppose we have a regular 7-simplex in $\mathbb{R}^8$ defined by vertices <1,0,0,...,0>, <0,1,0,..,0>,...,<0,...,0,1>. A section is a 3-dimensional linear subspace of $\mathbb{R}^8$ that ...
4 votes
0 answers
93 views

On symmetry and measure concentration rate for convex bodies

The concentration of measure on the cube $ [0, 1]^n $ equipped with uniform probability measure $\mu_{\infty}$, states that for any $A \subset [0, 1]^n $ with $ \mu_{\infty}(A) \geq \frac{1}{2} $, we ...
4 votes
0 answers
100 views

Asymptotics of the joint pdf of two sums of powers of independent $\mathcal U(0,1)$ random variables

As a warm-up in words: The sum of twelve uniform random variables is a classic approximation to a normal distribution. What is the joint pdf for the sum of their cubes and the sum of their fourth ...
2 votes
1 answer
319 views

Minimum distance to a sampled point with given pdf

Let $f(x)>0$ be a probability density function defined on the unit square $[0,1]^2$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$. Suppose that we take $N$ independent samples, $X_1,\dots,X_N$, of $f$. Now, sample a point $...
4 votes
1 answer
290 views

On the 1/2 assumption on concentration of measure for continuous cube

The concentration of measure on $ [0, 1]^n $ equipped with uniform probability measure $\mu_{\infty}$, states that for any $A \subset [0, 1]^n $ with $ \mu_{\infty}(A) \geq \frac{1}{2} $, we have: $$...
5 votes
2 answers
474 views

Another graph characteristic

This question concerns a method of drawing graphs and a graph characteristic about which I want to learn more. Consider a connected directed graph with at least one node with in-degree 0 and one node ...
10 votes
2 answers
797 views

Fitting a mesh to a density function

Suppose I have a probability density function defined on a region in the plane (in my case, the pdf is of the form $f(x) = \alpha\|x\|^{-\beta}$, and the region is the unit disk). For large $N$, is ...
7 votes
0 answers
209 views

Stabbing disks in space, or: Galactic alignment

I have a collection of $n$ unit-radius disks in $\mathbb{R}^3$, whose centers are random within a sphere of radius $R>1$, and which are each oriented randomly. I'd like to find a line $L$ that ...
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

Uniform sampling from general simplex with a twist

This is part of a question I had asked elsewhere, and then some of the links redirected me to CS stack exchange. Given $0\leq a_1\leq\dots\leq a_D\leq1$ (all strictly positive), I want to draw points ...
16 votes
3 answers
2k views

A random walk on random lines

I am wondering if this random walk remains finite with positive probability. Start with three lines $A,B,C$ that are extensions of an equilateral triangle. Let $p_0$ be one corner. Generate a line $...
8 votes
2 answers
256 views

What is the probability that these sets intersect?

Let $A$ be the subset of $\mathbb{R}^n$ defined by $A=\{x\in\mathbb{R}^{n}:|x_{1}-x_{n}|+\sum_{i=1}^{n-1}|x_{i+1}-x_{i}|\leq d\}$ for a given $d$. Next, sample a point $p$ uniformly in the unit cube, ...
3 votes
0 answers
144 views

What is the probability that these four random areas can yield a tetrahedron?

This is inspired by this problem about randomly broken sticks that can form a triangle. It goes in a different direction than this generalization about randomly broken sticks that can form a ...
8 votes
3 answers
660 views

The minimum-perimeter triangle of three sets of points

If $X$ and $Y$ are two sets of $n$ independent, uniformly sampled points in the unit square, then standard methods can show that the expected minimum distance between points in $X$ and $Y$ is ...
9 votes
2 answers
560 views

Integrating a simple exponential over the space of matrices that define a metric

I want to interpret an $n\times n$ matrix $D$ as a set of pairwise distances, and assume that $D$ obeys metric properties. Namely, $D_{ii} = 0$, $D_{ij} \geq 0$, $D_{ij} = D_{ji}$ and $D_{ij} \leq D_{...
2 votes
0 answers
59 views

Totally distance non-preserving transformations

JL lemma (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson%E2%80%93Lindenstrauss_lemma) guarantees if you have a set of $K$ points in $\Bbb R^N$ a random transformation guarantees that the set can be projected ...
2 votes
0 answers
60 views

Mean width of intersection of two elipsoid

My question is regarding mean widths. For a set $\mathcal{T}$ define the mean width \begin{align*} \omega(T)=\mathbb{E}_{\mathbf{g}\sim\mathcal{N}(0,\mathbf{I})}\bigg[\underset{\mathbf{u}\in\mathcal{...
9 votes
1 answer
784 views

Width of a random convex polygon

Consider a planar (2D) random walk comprised of N steps. Consider the minimum convex polygon enclosing the N points visited by the random walker. Assume the definition of the width of a convex polygon ...
20 votes
5 answers
1k views

Probability that biggest area stays greater than 1/2 in a unit square cut by random lines

The square $[0,1]^2$ is cut into some number of regions by $n$ random lines. We can chose these random lines by randomly picking a point on one of the four sides, picking another point randomly from ...
10 votes
5 answers
509 views

Path length of ball on tilted, perforated plane

Imagine that an $\epsilon$-radius hole is punched in the plane centered on every integer-coordinate point. Now a point "ball" is dropped on the plane at a random spot $p$. If $p$ has not already ...
8 votes
1 answer
314 views

Longest induced cycles in random geometric graphs near criticality

We make a random geometric graph $X(n;r)$ as follows. Choose $n$ points uniformly, independently, in the unit square $[0,1]^2$, for vertices, and then connect a pair of vertices $\{ p,q \}$ by an edge ...
2 votes
0 answers
104 views

Expected Area of Triangle Formed form Region [1,n]

We take three pieces of random lengths from the interval $[1,n]$, and then guarantee that they can form a triangle (ie that the triangle inequality is satisfied). That is to say we say that the sum of ...
10 votes
4 answers
904 views

The distribution of the shortest path through $n$ points

In the big picture, I'd like to know: if I sample $n$ points uniformly at random in the unit square, what is the probability that the shortest path that visits each one of them is very small? More ...
19 votes
3 answers
931 views

Is the circle in the square best at avoiding random lines?

This question is inspired by a recent one (and takes a great deal from the answers there). Given a convex subset $\Delta$ of the unit square, let $p(\Delta)$ be the probability that a random line does ...
15 votes
1 answer
2k views

Ping-pong relief map of a given function z=f(x,y)

I have an idea to design a type of Galton's Board to "draw" a relief map of a given two-dimensional function $z=f(x,y)$. A typical Galton's Board drops, say, ping-pong balls through a series of evenly ...
3 votes
1 answer
248 views

"Trapping" of discs after random sequential adsorption

Imagine I perform Random Sequential Adsorption (RSA) of discs of some radius $r$ on $[0, 1]^2$, eventually covering the surface to some density $Q \leq 0.543$ with $N$ total discs (where $\approx 0....
4 votes
1 answer
263 views

Knotted TSP tours in 3D?

In the plane, the Euclidean TSP tour never crosses itself—it is always a simple polygon. I am wondering if there is a similar constraint for the Euclidean TSP tour of points in $\mathbb{R}^3$. ...
2 votes
1 answer
185 views

$\zeta(2n)$ and Levy processes

I am missing some steps in the final derivation of a probabilistic computation of the even values of $\zeta$. They show the Cauchy distribution is relate to a certian Levy process: $$ |\mathbb{C}_1| \...
2 votes
2 answers
146 views

Volume of specials sets on sphere $S^N$

Suppose I'm given $m$ points $\{q_i\}$ on the sphere $S^N$. I want to get a lower/upper bound for the volume of the following sets with respect to uniform probability measure $\mathbb{P}$ on the ...
1 vote
1 answer
516 views

Properties of the minimum circumscribing circle for points sequentially placed within a circle of radius $r$ of previously placed points on a 2D plane

Imagine I perform the following procedure: [1] At time point $t_1$, I place a single point on a two-dimensional plane at the coordinate $(x, y) = (0, 0)$. [2] At time point $t_2$, I center a ...
17 votes
4 answers
823 views

Sweep-segment bot: Will this random walk sweep the plane?

This model is inspired by the random behavior of the Roomba sweeping robot. Let a unit segment $ab$ in the plane be placed initially with $a=(0,0)$ and $b=(1,0)$. The segment is first rotated a ...
17 votes
2 answers
406 views

Random rings linked into one component?

Let $S$ be a sphere of unit radius. Let $C_n$ be a collection of unit-radius circles/rings whose centers are (uniformly distributed) random points in $S$, and which are oriented (tilted) randomly (...
4 votes
1 answer
133 views

Union of random half spaces cover a ray

Let $x, y \in \mathbb{R}^{n}$ be two fixed unit vectors with angle $\alpha \in (\frac{\pi}{2}, \frac{3\pi}{4})$. Define the positive half space associated with a vector $z$ to be $\mathcal{H}(z) = \{h ...
32 votes
1 answer
1k views

Does projection of 3D points reduce distances by exactly 1/3?

Let $P$ be a set of $n$ random points uniformly distributed inside a unit-radius sphere centered on the origin. Orthogonally project $P$ to a random plane through the origin; call the projected points ...
2 votes
1 answer
350 views

The equilibrium position for the body of a spider-like spring system after randomly perturbing the anchor positions of its legs

Take $N$ springs, $(s_1, ..., s_N) \in S$ of length $(l_1, ..., l_N)$, and for each spring, label one end "A" and one end "B". Connect the "A" ends of the $N$ springs to a point-like particle on a ...
16 votes
1 answer
1k views

Random polycube shapes

I am wondering if it is hopeless to obtain any firm results on the following model of a "random polycube shape." First, a polycube in $\mathbb{R}^3$ is a connected face-to-face gluing of unit cubes. (...
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

Distance measure for noisy $SE(3)$ transforms

I have a transformation $T \in SE(3)$ parameterized by a mean quaternion $q$ with covariance matrix $\Sigma_q \in R^{4\times4}$ and a mean translation $t \in R^3$ with covariance matrix $\Sigma_t \in ...
10 votes
1 answer
494 views

Ping-pong progress through a quincunx

A quincunx or Galton board consists of staggered pegs from which ping-pong balls bounce and eventually display a binomial / normal distribution in catch-bins. I am wondering if the downward progress ...
3 votes
1 answer
105 views

Asymptotic radius of the smallest enclosing ball

Let $X_1,..., X_n$ be i.i.d. $d$-dimensional standard normal random variables, and let $R_n$ be the radius of the smallest ball containing $X_1,...,X_n$. What is known about the distribution of $R_n$ ...
6 votes
0 answers
281 views

Covariance operator analogue for manifolds and respective measure manifolds

Assume $E$ is a connected riemannian manifold with geodesic metric space structure given by $d$ and $P$ is a probability measure over $E$ with Borel sigma-algebra given by this metric structure. Also ...
7 votes
1 answer
318 views

Finding a short path using $(0.99n)!$ permutations

Suppose I have $n$ points $x_1,\dots,x_n$ that are all independent uniform samples in the unit square, and I'd like to find a short path (in terms of Euclidean length) that touches all of them (a ...