English

A study on the negative binomial distribution motivated by Chv\'atal's theorem

Probability 2023-11-14 v1

Abstract

Let B(n,p)B(n,p) denote a binomial random variable with parameters nn and pp. Chv\'{a}tal's theorem says that for any fixed n2n\geq 2, as mm ranges over {0,,n}\{0,\ldots,n\}, the probability qm:=P(B(n,m/n)m)q_m:=P(B(n,m/n)\leq m) is the smallest when mm is closest to 2n3\frac{2n}{3}. Motivated by this theorem, in this note we consider the infimum value of the probability P(XE[X])P(X\leq E[X]), where XX is a negative binomial random variable. As a consequence, we give an affirmative answer to the conjecture posed in [Statistics and Probability Letters, 200 (2023) 109871].

Cite

@article{arxiv.2311.06877,
  title  = {A study on the negative binomial distribution motivated by Chv\'atal's theorem},
  author = {Zheng-Yan Guo and Ze-Yu Tao and Ze-Chun Hu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.06877},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

10 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T13:18:36.051Z