English

Ballot theorems for random walks with finite variance

Probability 2008-02-28 v2

Abstract

We prove an analogue of the classical ballot theorem that holds for any random walk in the range of attraction of the normal distribution. Our result is best possible: we exhibit examples demonstrating that if any of our hypotheses are removed, our conclusions may no longer hold.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0802.2491,
  title  = {Ballot theorems for random walks with finite variance},
  author = {L. Addario-Berry and B. A. Reed},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.2491},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

21 pages; substantially simplified the proof of the positive result

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:13:29.650Z