English

On Feige's conjecture

Probability 2026-07-27 v1

Abstract

We present a short proof of Feige's conjecture: for nn independent nonnegative random variables with expectation one, the probability that their sum is less than n+1n+1 is at least (nn+1)n1e\left(\frac{n}{n+1}\right)^n\ge \frac{1}{e}. The proof was obtained with the assistance of GPT-5.6 Sol and builds on the recent breakthrough of Vlassis and Thomas establishing Gaffke's conjecture on the finite-sample validity of a distribution-free pp-value. We also discuss the implications of the subsequent work of Ming, Ramdas, Shen, Wang, and Waudby-Smith.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.24528,
  title  = {On Feige's conjecture},
  author = {Zipei Nie and Jiaye Wei},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.24528},
  year   = {2026}
}

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8 pages, 0 figures