Related papers: On the Chvatal-Janson conjecture
Consider the probability that a binomial random variable Bi$(n,m/n)$ with integer expectation $m$ is at most its expectation. Chv\'atal conjectured that for any given $n$, this probability is smallest when $m$ is the integer closest to…
Let $B(n,p)$ denote a binomial random variable with parameters $n$ and $p$. Vas\v{e}k Chv\'{a}tal conjectured that for any fixed $n\geq 2$, as $m$ ranges over $\{0,\ldots,n\}$, the probability $q_m:=P(B(n,m/n)\leq m)$ is the smallest when…
We give an elementary proof of the fact that a binomial random variable $X$ with parameters $n$ and $0.29/n \le p < 1$ with probability at least $1/4$ strictly exceeds its expectation. We also show that for $1/n \le p < 1 - 1/n$, $X$…
Let $B(n,p)$ denote a binomial random variable with parameters $n$ and $p$. Chv\'{a}tal's theorem says that for any fixed $n\geq 2$, as $m$ ranges over $\{0,\ldots,n\}$, the probability $q_m:=P(B(n,m/n)\leq m)$ is the smallest when $m$ is…
Let $B(n,p)$ denote a binomial random variable with parameters $n$ and $p$. Chv\'{a}tal's theorem says that for any fixed $n\geq 2$, as $m$ ranges over $\{0,\ldots,n\}$, the probability $q_m:=P(B(n,m/n)\leq m)$ is the smallest when $m$ is…
Let $B(n,p)$ denote a binomial random variable with parameters $n$ and $p$. Chv\'{a}tal's theorem says that for any fixed $n\geq 2$, as $m$ ranges over $\{0,1,\ldots,n\}$, the probability $q_m:=P(B(n,m/n)\leq m)$ is the smallest when $m$ is…
We provide a lower bound on the probability that a binomial random variable is exceeding its mean. Our proof employs estimates on the mean absolute deviation and the tail conditional expectation of binomial random variables.
It has been long congectured that the crossing number of $C_m\times C_n$ is $(m-2)n$ for $2<m<=n$. In this paper we proved that conjecture is true for all but finitely many $n$ for each $m$. More specifically we proved conjecture for…
Let $B(n,p)$ denote a binomial random variable with parameters $n$ and $p$. Chv\'{a}tal's theorem says that for any fixed $n\geq 2$, as $m$ ranges over $\{0,\ldots,n\}$, the probability $q_m:=P(B(n,m/n)\leq m)$ is the smallest when $m$ is…
Singmaster's conjecture asserts that every natural number greater than one occurs at most a bounded number of times in Pascal's triangle; that is, for any natural number $t \geq 2$, the number of solutions to the equation $\binom{n}{m} = t$…
For any integer $m\ge0$, we recall that triangular numbers are those $\mathbf{T}(m)=\frac{m(m+1)}{2}$. A conjecture of Sun Zhi-Wei states that an integer $2^n\pm n$ with any $n>2$ can not be a triangular number. The motivation of this work…
The Cauchy distribution is usually presented as a mathematical curiosity, an exception to the Law of Large Numbers, or even as an "Evil" distribution in some introductory courses. It therefore surprised us when Drton and Xiao (2016) proved…
Let $M$ be an $n \times m$ matrix of independent Rademacher ($\pm 1$) random variables. It is well known that if $n \leq m$, then $M$ is of full rank with high probability. We show that this property is resilient to adversarial changes to…
A famous conjecture of Erd\H os and Straus is that for every integer $n\ge2$, $4/n$ can be represented as $1/x+1/y+1/z$, where $x,y,z$ are positive integers. This conjecture was generalized to $5/n$ by Sierpi\'nski, and then Schinzel…
We disprove a conjecture stated in a recent paper by Arnold and Villasenor concerning the sum and the maximum of independent and identically distributed half-normal random variables. Our method is applicable to generalized gamma…
We analyze the average behavior of various arithmetic functions at the values of degree $d$ binary forms ordered by height, with probability $1$. This approach yields averaged versions of the Chowla conjecture and the Bateman-Horn…
Let $M_{n}$ denote a random symmetric $n\times n$ matrix, whose entries on and above the diagonal are i.i.d. Rademacher random variables (taking values $\pm 1$ with probability $1/2$ each). Resolving a conjecture of Vu, we prove that the…
The ratio $P(S_n=x)/P(Z_n=x)$ is investigated for three cases: (a) when $S_n$ is a sum of 1-dependent non-negative integer-valued random variables (rvs), satisfying some moment conditions, and $Z_n$ is Poisson rv; (b) when $S_n$ is a…
This note describes a conjecture involving cyclotomic polynomials and some initial thoughts towards a solution. Given positive integers $m,n$, the conjecture is that either $\Phi_m(q)\leqslant\Phi_n(q)$ or $\Phi_m(q)\geqslant\Phi_n(q)$…
We prove that the number of partitions of an integer into at most b distinct parts of size at most n forms a unimodal sequence for n sufficiently large with respect to b. This resolves a recent conjecture of Stanley and Zanello.