Related papers: Notes on Feige's gumball machines problem

Let $n\in\mathbb{Z}^+$. In [8] we ask the question whether any sequence of $n$ consecutive integers greater than $n^2$ and smaller than $(n+1)^2$ contains at least one prime number, and we show that this is actually the case for every…

In the context of bounding probability of small deviation, there are limited general tools. However, such bounds have been widely applied in graph theory and inventory management. We introduce a common approach to substantially sharpen such…

For a random variable $N = 0, 1, 2, \ldots$ we study the following question: When does the sum of $N$ many independent and identically distributed copies of a random variable $X$ have the same law a a nontrivial rescaling of $X$? We show…

A generalized $N$-sided die is a random variable $D$ on a sample space of $N$ equally likely outcomes taking values in the set of positive integers. We say of independent $N$ sided dice $D_i, D_j$ that $D_i$ beats $D_j$, written $D_i \to…

A pedagogical account of some aspects of Extreme Value Statistics (EVS) is presented from the somewhat non-standard viewpoint of Large Deviation Theory. We address the following problem: given a set of $N$ i.i.d. random variables…

A sequence of random variables is called exchangeable if the joint distribution of the sequence is unchanged by any permutation of the indices. De Finetti's theorem characterizes all $\{0,1\}$-valued exchangeable sequences as a "mixture" of…

Given a sequence $(X_n)$ of symmetrical random variables taking values in a Hilbert space, an interesting open problem is to determine the conditions under which the series $\sum_{n=1}^\infty X_n$ is almost surely convergent. For…

We study extremal statistics and return intervals in stationary long-range correlated sequences for which the underlying probability density function is bounded and uniform. The extremal statistics we consider e.g., maximum relative to…

We study the rate of growth of ergodic sums along a sequence (a_n) of times: S_N f(x)=f(T^{a_1}x) + ... + f(T^{a_N}x). We characterize the maximal rate of growth of these ergodic sums and identify a number of sequences such as (2^n) that…

For two independent, almost surely finite random variables, independence of their minimum (time) and the event that one of them is either greater, equal or less than the other (cause) is completely characterized. It is shown that, other…

Let $X $ be a square integrable random variable with basic probability space $(\O, \A, \P)$, taking values in a lattice $\mathcal L(v_0,1)=\big\{v_k=v_0+ k,k\in \Z\big\}$ and such that $\t_X =\sum_{k\in \Z}\P\{X=v_k\}\wedge…

In algebraic statistics, the maximum likelihood degree of a statistical model refers to the number of solutions (counted with multiplicity) of the score equations over the complex field. In this paper, the maximum likelihood degree of the…

Given coprime positive integers $g_1 < \ldots < g_e$, the Frobenius number $F=F(g_1,\ldots,g_e)$ is the largest integer not representable as a linear combination of $g_1,\ldots,g_e$ with non-negative integer coefficients. Let $n$ denote the…

For a random variable with a unimodal distribution and finite second moment Gau\ss \, (1823) proved a sharp bound on the probability of the random variable to be outside a symmetric interval around its mode. An alternative proof for it is…

Let $(X_i)_{1 \le i \le n}$ be independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) standard Gaussian random variables, and denote by $X_{(n)} = \max_{1 \le i \le n} X_i$ the maximum order statistic. It is well-known in extreme value theory…

The phenomenon of superconvergence is proved for all freely infinitely divisible distributions. Precisely, suppose that the partial sums of a sequence of free identically distributed, infinitesimal random variables converge in distribution…

Given $A$ a set of $N$ positive integers, an old question in additive combinatorics asks that whether $A$ contains a sum-free subset of size at least $N/3+\omega(N)$ for some increasing unbounded function $\omega$. The question is generally…

We show that the probability that a multilinear polynomial $f$ of independent random variables exceeds its mean by $\lambda$ is at most $e^{-\lambda^2 / (R^q Var(f))}$ for sufficiently small $\lambda$, where $R$ is an absolute constant.…

In this paper, the joint distribution of the sum and maximum of independent, not necessarily identically distributed, nonnegative random variables is studied for two cases: i) continuous and ii) discrete random variables. First, a recursive…

A conjecture of Cai-Zhang-Shen for figurate primes says that every integer $k>1$ is the sum of two figurate primes. In this paper we give an equivalent proposition to the conjecture. By considering extreme value problems with constraints…