All Questions
Tagged with pr.probability probability-distributions
1,384 questions
0
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424
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Bounding the total variation distance between two measures from a given set
I have a distance on the space of probability measures on $[0,2]$. It is defined as such for two probability measures $\mu_1$ and $\mu_2$ :
$d_p(\mu_1,\mu_2) := \sum_{k=0}^p ( \mathbb{E}[X_1 ^k]- \...
- 31
1
vote
1
answer
305
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Existence of a Lyapunov function for a log-concave measure
Let $d\in\mathbb N$, $f:\mathbb R^d\to\mathbb R$ be convex with $$\int e^{-f(x)}\:{\rm d}x<\infty\tag1$$ and $\mu$ denote the measure with density $e^{-f}$ with respect to the Lebesgue measure on $\...
- 167
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votes
0
answers
57
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Absolute continuity of probability measures determined by dependence structure
We are on $\mathbb{R}^d$ with Borel $\sigma$-algebra. Let $\mu_1, ..., \mu_d$ be probability measures on $\mathbb{R}$ and $\Pi(\mu_1, \mu_2, ..., \mu_d)$ be the set of probability measures on $\mathbb{...
- 1,095
4
votes
2
answers
122
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The minimum of the reciprocals of some Poisson random variables
Let $X_1,\dots,X_k$ denote a collection of independent samples of a Poisson random variable whose mean also happens to be equal to $k$. Does the quantity $$k\boldsymbol{E}\min\left\{ \frac{1}{1+X_{1}}...
- 383
2
votes
1
answer
403
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Product of independent random variables and tail deconvolution
Suppose $X, Y$ are two independent non-negative random variables. The conditions
(i) $\mathbb{P}(X > t) = \frac{C}{t^p} + o(t^{-p})$
(ii) $\mathbb{P}(Y > t) = o(t^{-q})$ for any $q > ...
- 205
1
vote
1
answer
435
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How to calculate the probability of 2 events happening in time series under only cdf information?
In time domain $0\rightarrow T$, there are two independent events $A$ and $B$.
$B$ follows Poisson Process with density $\lambda$. It's easy to get $P_B(t)$ which denotes $P_B(N(\tau+t)-N(\tau)\geq 1)...
- 29
8
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2
answers
891
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Differentiating an integral that grows like log asymptotically
Suppose I have a continuous function $f(x)$ that is non-increasing and always stays between $0$ and $1$, and it is known that
$$ \int_0^t f(x) dx = \log t + o(\log t), \qquad t \to \infty.$$
...
- 205
0
votes
0
answers
268
views
Does the linear combination of the quantile $\alpha F^{-1}(\tau)+\beta G^{-1}(\tau)$ still a quantile
$F(x)$ and $G(y)$ are distribution functions.
Define the $\tau$th quantile for cdf $F(x)$, $G(y)$ as
$$\xi_\tau\equiv F^{-1}(\tau)=\inf\{x:F(x)\ge \tau\}$$
and
$$\eta_\tau\equiv G^{-1}(\tau)=\inf\{y:...
- 141
-1
votes
1
answer
370
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What's the probability of two independent events in time domain?
Suppose there are two independent events A and B. The probability that A or ...
- 29
3
votes
0
answers
187
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Are there any conditions on the moments that make a measure a probability measure?
For a positive Borel measure $\mu$ on the real line interval $[-1, 1]$, let $\displaystyle{m_n = \int_{-\infty}^\infty x^n d\mu(x)}$, i.e. the $n$th moments of the measure. Are there any conditions ...
- 210
5
votes
1
answer
252
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What is the pdf of Laplace distribution conditioned on a plane? How can I sample from it?
Our goal is to sample from the Laplace distribution conditioned on a linear subspace. Here are the details of this problem.
Let
$$p(x) \propto \exp(-\|x\|_1/\sigma)$$
be the pdf of the Laplace ...
- 53
8
votes
1
answer
171
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On the existence of a particular type of finite measure on $\mathbb N$
Let $\mathbb N$ denote the set of all positive integers. Does there exist a countably additive measure $\mu : \mathcal P(\mathbb N) \to [0,\infty)$ such that $\mu(\mathbb N)<\infty$ and $\mu(\{nk: ...
- 1,209
1
vote
1
answer
467
views
Sharp tail bounds for the maximum of an iid sample of a random variable supported on $[0, 1]$
Let $X_1,\ldots,X_n$ be an iid sample from a distribution supported on $[0, 1]$.
Question
What are some sharp concentration inequalities (i.e tail bounds) empirical statistic defined by $Z_n := \max(...
- 6,853
5
votes
1
answer
107
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Estimating the size of the remainder in a random partition
Pick a sequence of real numbers $x_i$ as follows. Put $x_0=1$. If $x_i$ is chosen, then pick $x_{i+1}\in[0, x_i]$ according to the uniform distribution. Obviously we have $x_i\rightarrow 0$ with ...
2
votes
2
answers
74
views
Given two probability density functions find a number that satisfies a given equation
I have a problem for which I either need a proof or a counterexample.
We are given two discrete random variables $x_1$ and $x_2$ in $[0, n]$ where $F_1(x)$ is the probability of $x_1\leq x$, and ...
- 189
3
votes
2
answers
259
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What is $\sum_{k=0}^{+\infty}{k⋅p(k;\mu_1,\mu_2)}$, where $p$ is the pmf of Skellam distribution?
The Skellam distribution is the discrete probability distribution of the difference $N_{1}-N_{2}$ of two statistically independent random variables $N_{1}$ and $N_{2}$, each Poisson-distributed with ...
- 181
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2
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403
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What is the expected minimum total matching distance between two partitions of identically and independently distributed points?
Suppose a square $[0,1]\times [0,1]$ in which $N$ vehicles $V_i$ and $N$ riders $R_i$ are distributed identically and independently (say, uniform distribution), a bipartite matching (or a permutation, ...
- 181
1
vote
0
answers
193
views
Calculating the expectation of a sum of dependent random variables
Let $(X_i)_{i=1}^m$ be a sequence of i.i.d. Bernoulli random variables such that $\Pr(X_i=1)=p<0.5$ and $\Pr(X_i=0)=1-p$. Let $(Y_i)_{i=1}^m$ be defined as follows: $Y_1=X_1$, and for $2\leq i\leq ...
- 31
3
votes
2
answers
229
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Expectation of the exitpoint distance for the symmetric random walk
Let $\nu(x)$ be a symmetric probability measure with respect to the origin on $x\in[-1,1]$ such that $\nu(\{0\})\neq 1$.
Consider a random walk started at $S_0=0$, denoted $S_n=X_1+\dotsb+X_n$, ...
- 31
2
votes
1
answer
228
views
Maximum of sums of iid $X_i$'s where $X_i$ is the difference of two exponential r.v
Given $X_i = A_i - B_i$ where $A_i\sim \text{ Exp}(\alpha)$ and $B_i \sim \text{ Exp}(\lambda)$. Define $S_k = \sum_{i=1}^k X_i$ with $S_0 = 0$, and
$$M_n = \max_{1\leq k \leq n} S_k.$$
Is it ...
- 485
2
votes
1
answer
280
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Complicated bound after using Stirling's approximation
I have this inequality $$\frac{1}{a}\exp\bigl\{-\frac{4}{h^2}\bigr\} \geq \frac{1}{f}$$ where $$ a \leq \Bigl(\pi^{d/2}\Gamma(\frac{1}{2}d+1)^{-1} + 1\Bigr) \left(\frac{h^{d+1}}{2} \Gamma \left(\frac{...
- 225
3
votes
2
answers
227
views
Example of measure for some algebra over N
$\mathcal F$ is set of events. Can you give an example of some algebra $\mathcal A$ over $\mathbb N$ and a non-zero finitely additive measure $\mu$ on this algebra, which has a countably additive ...
- 113
3
votes
1
answer
202
views
Is there a coupling that induces a given coupling via a transition kernel?
Let $X,Y$ be two measurable spaces, $\mu,\nu$ two probability measures on $X$, and $\kappa$ a transition kernel from $X$ to $Y$.
Define $\tilde\mu(dy)=\int_X\kappa(dy|x)\mu(dx)$ and $\tilde\nu(dy)=\...
- 1,675
12
votes
1
answer
617
views
Mode of a sum of Bernoulli random variables
Let $S_n=\tau_1+\cdots+\tau_n$ be a sum of independent Bernoulli random variables such that $\mathbb{P}(\tau_i=1)=p_i$. Is it true that the mode of $S_n$ is either its mean rounded up or rounded down?
- 2,288
3
votes
0
answers
156
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Probability distribution from equidistribution - I
Pick a random pair $(a,b)\in\mathbb Z_n^2\backslash\{0,0\}$. Denote $N_r(a,b)$ to be minimum $\ell_r$ norm of vector $(x,y)$ as $(x,y)$ ranges over all non-zero integral solutions to $(x,y)\equiv t(a,...
- 13.9k
3
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1
answer
115
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Probability density from standard domain - I
Pick $x+iy$ at random with respect to hyperbolic measure from $\{z:|z|\geq1,|\mathcal R(z)|\leq\frac12\}$. What does the probability distribution function of $\frac1{\sqrt y}$ look like?
- 13.9k
3
votes
2
answers
189
views
Is the covariance of squares always bounded from below by two times the covariance?
I came across the following inequality in one of my calculations ($X,Y$ are centered random variables):
$$\operatorname{E}(X^2Y^2)-\operatorname{E}(X^2)\operatorname{E}(Y^2) \geq 2 \operatorname{E}(...
- 617
5
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Distribution of the individual coordinates of a uniform random vector on a high-dimensional sphere
Let $X=(X_1,\ldots,X_n)$ be a random vector uniformly distributed on the $n$-dimensional sphere of radius $R > 0$. Intuitively, i think that for large $p$ every coordinate $X_i$ is normally ...
- 6,853
2
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0
answers
232
views
Random walk and comparing sums of Exponential random variables
Let $\sigma$ be the time a nearest neighbor random walk started at 1 that has probability $p>1/2$ of moving left reaches $0$. Let $\sigma'$ be an independent copy of $\sigma$. Let $(X_k)_1^\infty$ ...
- 457
1
vote
1
answer
154
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Generalization of inverse transform sampling
If X is a random variable over an arbitrary alphabet, is there a (deterministic) function f() such that X = f(U), where U is a uniform random variable over the unit-interval?
4
votes
2
answers
415
views
Effect of perturbing the atoms of a measure on the Wasserstein distance
Let $(X,d)$ be a metric space, $x_1,\ldots,x_N\in X$ and $x_1',\ldots,x_N'\in X$ be atoms, and $G=\sum_{i=1}^Np_i\delta_{x_i}$, $G'=\sum_{i=1}^Np_i'\delta_{x_i}$, and $G''=\sum_{i=1}^Np_i'\delta_{x_i'}...
- 710
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votes
4
answers
1k
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Improvement of Chernoff bound in Binomial case
We know from Chernoff bound
$P\bigg(X \leq (\frac{1}{2}-\epsilon)N\bigg)\leq e^{-2\epsilon^2 N}$ where
$X$ follows Binomial($N, \frac{1}{2}$).
If I take $N=1000, \epsilon=0.01$, the upper bound is ...
- 191
8
votes
4
answers
1k
views
What is the probability distribution of the $k$th largest coordinate chosen over a simplex?
Suppose we're selecting points uniformly at random from the $N$-simplex
$S_N = \{x \in \mathbb R^{N+1}: $ all $ x_i \ge 0$ and $x_1 + \ldots x_N = 1\}$.
One way to do this in practice is choose $N-...
- 1,955
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2
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462
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lower bound the probability of at least L collisions
Lets say we get a list $M$ containing $|M|=\sqrt{L\cdot N}$ randomly and independtly drawn elements from a set of size $N$. And lets denote the $i$-th element of the list $M$ by $M[i]$.
If we now ask ...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
210
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Controlling Mean Difference Between Product and Joint Distributions Using Optimal Transportation
Suppose we have nonindependent random variables $X \sim P$ and $Y \sim Q$, where $P$ and $Q$ denote their marginal distributions. We are interested in upper bounding
$$
|\mathbf{E}_{X, Y\sim P \...
- 1,127
3
votes
1
answer
209
views
Log concavity of the maximum of dependent Gaussians
Let $Z_1,\dots,Z_n$ be dependent Gaussian random variables. Is it true that $X=\max\{Z_1,\dots,Z_n\}$ has a log-concave distribution function? This is true for the independent case, but is it true in ...
- 2,288
0
votes
1
answer
731
views
Is the normal product distribution sub-gaussian?
Consider the normal product distribution, which is the distribution of the product of two or more independent normal variables. Particulary, focus in the case where the multiplied normal variables are ...
- 111
2
votes
0
answers
302
views
Schilder's theorem for brownian bridges
I am really not a probabilist and I apologize if my question is too naive or not appropriate, please feel free to migrate to SE.
A bit of context: usually, Schilder's theorem tells us that the ...
- 5,380
3
votes
1
answer
178
views
Tail probability of random projection
Suppose $v\in R^n$ is a constant unit vector. $P_l$ is a random projection matrix to an $l$ dimensional subspace of $R^n$ which is uniformly sampled from $G(l,R^n)$ which is the collection of all $l$-...
- 1,495
0
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1
answer
270
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Bivariate Poisson-Binomial distribution
Suppose you have $100$ coins whose probabilities of obtaining the outcome "head" are $p_1,\ldots,\,p_{100}$. These probabilities are not necessarily equal each other. Consider the following random ...
- 173
3
votes
1
answer
2k
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Closed-form formula for Wasserstein distance between uniform discrete distribution and discrete distribution with same support
Let $x_1,\ldots,x_n$ be $n \ge 1$ distinct points in $\mathbb R^d$ and consider two discrete distributions on these points $\mu = (1/n)\sum_{i=1}^n\delta_{x_i}$, and $\nu = \sum_{i=1}^n\nu_i\delta_{...
- 6,853
1
vote
2
answers
368
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Use Importance sampling for multimodal and multivariate distribution draws, how to choose proposal distribution?
I'm in trouble trying to generate samples following a particular distribution which is not numerically known perfectly. Let us consider a $R^n$ space provided with an orthonormal base $( e_{1},...,e_{...
- 11
18
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Entropy and total variation distance
Let $X$, $Y$ be discrete random variables taking values within the same set of $N$ elements. Let the total variation distance $|P-Q|$ (which is half the $L_1$ distance between the distributions of $P$ ...
- 20.2k
4
votes
2
answers
316
views
The probability density function of the number of coins to first fill one box of $N$
Given $N$ boxes with the same capacity $C$, I toss coins into the boxes uniformly, one by one. When any one of the boxes is full, the sum of the coins in all boxes is denoted $S$. How to compute the ...
- 43
2
votes
1
answer
258
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A modest generalization of the law of large numbers
Suppose I collect $2n$ independent samples of a probability density function $f$, which are separated into pairs $\{X_i^1, X_i^2\}$ for $1\leq i\leq n$. Suppose I now consider the set of all $2^n$ ...
- 383
3
votes
1
answer
167
views
Lower bound on the sum of pmf squared of a hypergeometric distribution
I am working on a proof of correctness for an algorithm I came up with. I encountered the following problem en route. I would appreciate if anyone had some idea or could point me to the relevant ...
- 33
1
vote
1
answer
118
views
What is the order of the left tail of a mixture of non-central chi-square?
Let $\mu\sim N(0,1)$, $Z\sim N(\mu,1)$. Then $Z$ can be viewed as a mixture of Gaussians. It can also be viewed as a Gaussian but there is a prior for the mean.
Let $X\sim\exp(\lambda)$ where the ...
- 1,495
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
wasserstein distance between distributions with bounded ratio
Let $p$ and $q$ be probability distributions on a metric space $X=(X, d)$ with densities $dp$ and $dq$, such that there exists $0 < \alpha < \beta < \infty$ satisfying
$$
\alpha d p \le dq \...
- 6,853
2
votes
1
answer
171
views
Stochastic domination of Gaussian random vectors
Let $S$ be the class of all $2$ by $2$ matrices of the form
$$\begin{bmatrix}
1 & a \\
a & 1
\end{bmatrix},\, |a|\leq 1.$$
Is there a single matrix $M\in S$ such that for ...
- 2,288
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Wasserstein interpolation between two probability measures on a metric space
Question 1
Given probability measures $\mu$ and $\nu$ on the same metric space $X=(X,d)$, and $\alpha \in [0, 1]$, is it always possible to find another probability measure $\lambda_\alpha$ on $X$ ...
- 6,853