All Questions
Tagged with pr.probability probability-distributions
1,384 questions
4
votes
1
answer
648
views
What is the probability for a Binomial to be greater than other?
Let $X = B(n, p)$ and $Y = B(k, q)$ be two random variables with binomial distribution and, let $s$ be a positive integer. Assume that $n > k+s$ and $np \geq kq+s$.
What is the probability for $X$ ...
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 ...
- 2,246
2
votes
2
answers
104
views
Draw samples from distribitions in the neighborhood of a fixed distribution
Disclaimer
Sorry in advance for vagueness. I'm still trying to get my ideas right on this one.
Setup
So, let $P$ be a distribution on a Euclidean space $X$ with an $\ell_p$ metric, and let $P_\...
- 6,853
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How to estimate a total variation distance?
Let $X_1, \ldots, X_n$ be independent Bernoulli random variables. Then $Pr[X_i=1]=Pr[X_i=0]=1/2$. Let $X = (X_1, \ldots, X_n)$ and $v \in \{0,1\}^n$, $Y=v \cdot X$, $Z=Y-1$. Let
\begin{align}
\mu_1(x)...
- 6,201
14
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Is KL divergence $D(P||Q)$ strongly convex over $P$ in infinite dimension
By KL divergence I mean $D(P||Q) = \int dP \log(\frac{dP}{dQ})$. I am looking for the conditions under which this strong convexity is true and possible references. I could not find an answer for ...
- 193
3
votes
1
answer
129
views
Reference Request: Simple Random Walk on $\mathbb Z$ is Unimodal
I am looking for a reference to the following claim. Let $X = (X_t)_{t\ge0}$ be a continuous time simple random walk. Then
$$
m \mapsto P(|X_t| = m) : \mathbb N \to [0,1]
$$
is (weakly) decreasing (or ...
- 560
1
vote
1
answer
215
views
are there measure preserving mapping in this case?
Suppose f and g are two Borel function on [0, 1]. The push-forward of the Lebesgue measure on [0,1] by f and by g are the same. Then are there some Borel measurable function from [0,1] to [0,1], ...
- 11
4
votes
1
answer
275
views
A metric stronger than total variation
Let $P,Q$ be two distributions on a finite set $X$. Consider the following metric*
$$ d(P,Q) = \frac12\max_{\emptyset\neq A\subseteq X} \|P(\cdot\mid A)-Q(\cdot\mid A)\|_1. $$
Obviously, the total ...
- 6,541
4
votes
1
answer
125
views
How to find the optimal convergence rate?
I have already asked that Question on Cross Validated:
Link
Suppose there is some data $X_{1},X_{2},\ldots,X_{n}$. We further suppose that there is some parameter $\theta$, for which we want to do ...
- 115
2
votes
2
answers
144
views
Spectrum of finite-band random matrices?
Let
$X_n=(X_{ij})_{1 \leq i,j \leq n}$ such that :
$$ \begin{cases}
&X_{ij} = 0 \quad \text{if}\quad \vert i - j \vert > k\\
& X_{ij} \sim P_X \quad \text{otherwise}
\end{cases}$$
And ...
- 245
3
votes
0
answers
243
views
Parametric distances on product spaces of measures
Disclaimer: Please excuse my loose language. I'm neither an expert in geometry nor probability. Please ask for clarification if something appears unclear or awkward to you.
Let $X$ be a topological ...
- 6,853
1
vote
0
answers
87
views
Conditonal convergence implies convergence?
Note : All measures below are probability measures.
Let $\mu_n(X,Y)$ be a random probability measure on $\mathbb C$ depending on two random variables X and Y with values in $\mathbb{R}^N$.
Actually,...
- 245
1
vote
0
answers
237
views
CLT for random sums: Anscombe's Theorem vs. "classical" version
Given a compound Poisson distribution
$$S(t):=\sum_{k=1}^{N(t)} X_{k}$$ with
$N(t)\in\mathbb{N},\,t\geq0$ a Poisson process with rate $\lambda.$
$X_{k}\in L^{2}$ are iid random variables, i.e. $\...
- 203
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Minimizing the expectation of a functional of probability distribution subject to an entropy constraint
Consider a PDF $\pi(x)$ for $x\in[0,1]$, and the following functional
$$
F(\pi) = \mathbb{E}_\pi |x-y| $$
It is minimized by any point mass, so to avoid such degeneracy I'd like to lower-bound the ...
- 341
3
votes
1
answer
228
views
Density of a somewhat random set
The density of a set
$X\subseteq\omega$ refers to:
$\limsup\limits_{n\rightarrow\infty}\dfrac{C\cap n}{n}$.
Given a set of positive integers
$F= \{m_0<\cdots<m_{k-1}\}$,
let $C\subseteq \omega$...
- 909
2
votes
1
answer
628
views
Fastest convergence of sum of uniform independent distributions to a Gaussian
The sum of uniform i.i.d. random variables follows the Irwin-Hall distribution. Through observation it seems that the convergence is faster in comparison to the sum of uniform independent but not ...
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Bound for a conditional expectation
Let $a_i, i=1, \ldots, n$ be real numbers. Let $\epsilon_i, \, i=1, \ldots, n$ be a random variables that take values $\pm 1$ with equal probability and $r_i, i=1, \ldots, n$ be random variables ...
- 343
0
votes
1
answer
213
views
Show that interval of maximum probability grows no faster than $\sqrt{n}$ for binomial distribution
Let $X \sim \text{Binom}(n, p)$ a binomial random variable. I want to show that : $$\forall 0 < t < 0.9, \quad \exists C, \quad \forall n >1, \quad \mathbb P\bigg(|X-np| \leq C\sqrt{n}\bigg) \...
- 119
2
votes
1
answer
64
views
Maximum Number of modes of $V=U+Z$ where $Z$ standard normal and $|U|\le a$
Let $f_V$ be a pdf of random variable $V$ where
\begin{align}
V=U+Z
\end{align}
and where $U$ and $Z$ are independent and $Z$ is Gaussian. Moreover, suppose that $|U| \le A$.
Can we find the upper ...
- 671
1
vote
1
answer
499
views
property of iid random variable
Let $ (\xi_i)_{i \ge 1} $ be independent identically distributed random variables, taking values in $ (1,3]$.
Can we show:
$P( \exists N \in \mathbb{N}, \text{ s.t. } \forall k \ge 0, \prod_{i=1}^{...
- 553
7
votes
1
answer
763
views
Reference request: discretisation of probability measures on $\mathbb R^d$
Given a probability measures $\mu$ on $\mathbb R^d$ with finite first movement, i.e.
$$\int_{\mathbb R^d}|x|\mu(dx)~~<~~+\infty.$$
My concern is to approximate $\mu$ some $\mu_n$ that is ...
- 345
9
votes
1
answer
180
views
Variant of mutual information
Given a discrete random variable $(X,Y)$, one can consider the smallest entropy of a random variable $Z$ such that $X$ and $Y$ are independent conditioned to $Z$.
This quantity is akin to the mutual ...
- 2,772
1
vote
1
answer
161
views
LLN large number law of Probability
I am studying the Law of large numbers for independent and identically distributed (i.i.d) random variables.
Assume there are i.i.d variables $(\xi_k)_{k\ge 1}$ taking values in $(0,1)$. From the law ...
- 553
0
votes
1
answer
189
views
Why Expected squared length of a projected vector on reduced dimensionality coordinates is k/d?
For the proof of Johnson-Lindenstrauss algorithm by Dasgupta and Gupta, they comment in their paper that for a vector $Z \in R^k $, the expected squared length, $E[L]$ (where $L = \|Z\|^2$) of the ...
33
votes
1
answer
2k
views
$\mathbb{E}[X^4]=1$, $X,Y$ iid, what's the best upper bound of $\mathbb{E}[(X-Y)^4]$?
Let $X,Y$ be i.i.d. random variables, $\mathbb{E}[X^4]=1$, what's the best upper bound for $\mathbb{E}[(X-Y)^4]$ ?
A trivial upper bound is $16$, since $(X-Y)^4 \leq 8 (X^4+Y^4)$ then take ...
- 563
-1
votes
1
answer
76
views
Transforming random variables for having good property?
For arbitrary functions $A$ and $B$ and independent random variables $X$ and $Y$, assume that
\begin{align}
\Omega&\triangleq \{(x,y): A(x,y)=1\},\\
\Lambda&\triangleq \{x: B(x)=1\}.
\end{...
- 287
3
votes
0
answers
116
views
Trace of Symmetric matrices in fixed rank
I am solving some problem related to symmetric matrices over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ and I am stuck at the following problem:
For every $a\in\mathbb{F}_q $, let $S_a(t,m)$ be the set of all $m\...
- 179
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Earth movers distance (EMD) between two multivariate normals. Is it negative definite distance?
I was looking at the closed form formula for 2-Wassersteins distance for multivariate normal distribution on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserstein_metric#Normal_distributions
It has a ...
- 141
5
votes
1
answer
942
views
Moments of maximum of independent Gaussian random variables
Let $X = (X_1, \ldots, X_d) \in \mathbb{R}^d$ be a mean-zero Gaussian random vector with identity covariance matrix. Are there upper bounds for
$$E \left(\|X\|_{\infty}^k \right)$$ for $k=1, \ldots, ...
- 519
1
vote
0
answers
108
views
Bounding quantiles of the noncentral chi distribution
I need to bound the empirical quantiles for a noncentral chi distribution (not chi-squared) $\chi_\nu(\lambda)$, where $\nu$ is the number of degrees of freedom and $\lambda$ the non-centrality ...
- 162
3
votes
2
answers
278
views
The disintegration of the convolution of two probability measures
Let $G$ be a topological group with all the topological conditions in order that some form of the disintegration theorem be applicable (for instance, take $G$ metrizable). Let $N$ be normal and closed,...
- 5,407
2
votes
1
answer
689
views
One question about compensated Poisson process
Let $N$ be a Poisson process with parameter $\lambda$, that is, for $a>b\geq0$, there is $$P[N(a,b)=k]=\frac{((a-b)\lambda)^k}{k!}e^{-(a-b)\lambda}.$$ Now denote $N_t=N[0,t)$ and define
$$
M_t=N_t-...
- 323
-1
votes
2
answers
614
views
Bounded difference functions and sub-Gaussian random variables
We have the following standard theorem : Let $X$ be some set and $g : X^n \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ be a measurable function such that it satisfies the ``bounded difference property" i.e $\exists$ $\{...
- 2,246
1
vote
0
answers
67
views
Showing that $b$ is a inner point of $\mathcal{G}$ where $\mathcal{G}$ is a subset of $\mathbb{R}^{N+3}$ determined by $\mathcal{M}^{+}$
Let $(\Xi,\mathscr{E})$ be a measurable space, $(\mathbb{R_{+}},\mathfrak{B})$ other measurable space where $\mathfrak{B}$ a $\sigma$-algebra. We consider the measurable space $(\Xi\times\Xi\times\...
- 19
1
vote
1
answer
480
views
Ratio of perfectly correlated gaussian distributions
Let $M$ be a positive definite matrix and let $w \in S^{d-1}$ be a unit vector uniformly distributed over the sphere. I want to understand the distribution of the quadratic form $\frac{w^T M^3 w}{w^T ...
- 71
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Explicitly representing a random variable in terms of indicator functions
Motivation:
I want to compute $$E[g(X)] := \int_{\Omega} g(X(\omega)) d\mathbb{P}(\omega) \tag{*}$$ without needing change of variable formula.
I want to prove the change of variable formula (you ...
- 247
1
vote
1
answer
372
views
Calculate Average and Correlation of WSS Random Processes
Given two stochastic processes, $X[n]$ and $Y[n]$, both being WSS (wide state stationary) and independents. What would be the Average and Autocorrelation function of $Z[n] = Y[n] X[n]$?
Is the ...
- 11
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
$p$-th moment of complex Gaussian random variable
Let $1<p<2.$ Let $G$ be a complex Gaussian random variable. then what is the value of $\mathbb{E}[|G|^p]$ ? The symbol $\mathbb{E}$ denotes the expectation of a random variable.
- 455
0
votes
1
answer
308
views
Berry-Esseen type theorem for Monotonic independence
The central limit theorem states that, under certain circumstances, the probability distribution of the scaled mean of a random sample converges to a normal distribution as the sample size increases ...
- 152
7
votes
0
answers
774
views
Calculate the expectation of the maximum of averaged random walks
Let $X_1, X_2, \ldots$ be iid random variables with bounded second moment. The question is to calculate the exact value of $$\mathbb{E} \max_{1 \le j < \infty} \frac{X_1 + \cdots + X_j}{j}.$$
Is ...
- 773
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Conditional Expectation for $\sigma$-finite measures
Someone knows of some definition or reference of how to define conditional expectation for a measure space with $\sigma$-finite measure.
I think it should be as follows:
Let $(X,\mathcal{B},\nu)$ ...
- 193
3
votes
0
answers
125
views
Probability distributions with all positive cumulants
Is there a term for a distribution with all cumulants positive (or nonnegative)?
- 3,069
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 ...
- 128k
2
votes
0
answers
77
views
"Optimal" local limit theorems for densities vanishing at zero
Consider a nonnegative stable distribution with a density that vanishes at zero, such as
$$f(t)=\frac{e^{-1/2t}}{\sqrt{2\pi t^3}},\qquad t\geq0.$$
Suppose (for simplicity) that we have i.i.d copies $(...
- 891
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Normal approximation to the pointwise/Hadamard/Schur product of two multivariate Gaussian/normal random variables
Let $X \sim \mathcal{N}\left( {{\mu _x},\sigma _x^2} \right)$ and $Y \sim \mathcal{N}\left( {{\mu _y},\sigma _y^2} \right)$ be two univariate and independent Gaussian/normal random variables and let $...
- 1,026
6
votes
2
answers
312
views
maximal distance of nearby iid unifrom random variables
Question: Let $X_1, \ldots ,X_n$ be $n$ iid uniformly distributed random variables, i.e., $X_j \sim \mathcal{U}(0,1)$ for each $j=1,\ldots ,n$. What is the PDF of the maximal distance between to ...
- 3,574
4
votes
0
answers
228
views
Minimization over a convex function of equal vs unequal success probabilities of Bernoulli random variables
Let $U_1,U_2,\ldots,U_n$ be $n\geq 2$ mutually independent Bernoulli random variables. There are two cases of interest:
$1.$ The random variables $U_1,U_2,\ldots,U_n$ are identically distributed;
$...
- 359
3
votes
2
answers
329
views
Log-concavity of the maximum of gaussians
Let $Z_1,\ldots, Z_n$ be independent standard gaussian random variables. Is it true that $X=\max\{Z_1,\ldots,Z_n\}$ has a log-concave distribution function?
- 2,288
3
votes
1
answer
368
views
Minimising the f-divergence to a conditional probability constraint
Let $P$ be a probability distribution and let $A$ and $B$ be some events, and suppose that we want to minimise an $f$-divergence between $P$ and the set of all distributions $Q$ that satisfy that ...
- 631
3
votes
2
answers
517
views
CLT for Martingales
I posted this question originally in math stack exchange, but I got no answer.
(https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2604591/clt-for-martingales)
In wikipedia, there is a version of a CLT for ...
- 339