English

A Geometric(1/2) Distribution Associated with Record Breaking

Probability 2022-10-18 v1

Abstract

Let Xi,i=0,1,X_i,i=0,1,\ldots be a sequence of iid random variables whose distribution is continuous. Associated with this sequence is the sequence (i,Xi),i=0,1,(i,X_i),i=0,1,\ldots. Let Rn{\cal R}_{n} denote the set of Pareto optimal elements of {(i,Xi):i=0,,n}.\{ (i,X_i):i=0,\ldots,n\}. We refer to the elements of Rn{\cal R}_{n} as the current records at time n,n, and we define Rn=Rn,R_n=\vert {\cal R}_n\vert, the number of such records. Observe that RnR_n has {1,,n+1}\{1,\ldots,n+1\} as its support. When (n,Xn)(n,X_n) is realized, it is a Pareto optimal element of {(i,Xi) : i=0,,n}\{ (i,X_i)~:~i=0,\ldots,n\} and Rn\(n,Xn)Rn1.{\cal R}_{n} \backslash (n,X_n) \subset {\cal R}_{n-1}. Then we refer to those elements of Bn=Rn1\Rn{\cal B}_n = {\cal R}_{n-1} \backslash {\cal R}_{n} as the records broken at time n.n. Let Bn=Bn.B_n= \vert {\cal B}_n \vert. We show that P[Bn=k]1/2k+1\mboxfork=0,1,2,.P[B_n = k] \rightarrow 1/2^{k+1} \mbox{ for } k=0,1,2,\ldots.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2210.08426,
  title  = {A Geometric(1/2) Distribution Associated with Record Breaking},
  author = {Daniel Q. Naiman and Fred Torcaso},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.08426},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

9 pages, 3 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T03:44:02.530Z