English

Elephant random walk with attributed steps and extractions of random sizes

Probability 2026-04-21 v1

Abstract

We study a model of market economics wherein the (n+1)(n+1)-st customer, for each nNn\geqslant N, with NN being a prespecified positive integer, draws a sample of (random) size KnK_{n}, either with replacement or without, from the customers of the past. Each sampled customer is queried as to which of the two products, A and B, available in the oligopolistic market, they chose, and whether they are satisfied or not with their choice. The (n+1)(n+1)-st customer now employs a stochastic rule, based on the information collected from the sampled customers, to decide which of the two products to buy. The probability that a customer is satisfied with the product they have purchased equals q1q_{1} when the product is A, and q2q_{2} when it is B, independent of all else. The resulting stochastic process may be represented as a variant of the celebrated elephant random walk, with the relative performance (in terms of sale) of A with respect to B, up to and including the nn-th sale, captured by the position SnS_{n} of the walker at time nn. We study the almost sure convergence of Sn/nS_{n}/n, as well as the convergence in distribution of suitably scaled versions of SnS_{n} (where the scaling depends on the regime we are in).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.17302,
  title  = {Elephant random walk with attributed steps and extractions of random sizes},
  author = {Sooraj M and Moumanti Podder and Archi Roy},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.17302},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Appendix begins from Page 31

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:16:39.145Z