Related papers: Sylvester's problem for random walks and bridges

We give an explicit formula for the probability that the convex hull of an $n$-step random walk in $R^d$ does not contain the origin, under the assumption that the distribution of increments of the walk is centrally symmetric and puts no…

Let $X_1,\ldots, X_{d+2}$ be random points in $\mathbb R^d$. The classical Sylvester problem asks to determine the probability that the convex hull of these points, denoted by $P:= [X_1,\ldots, X_{d+2}]$, is a simplex. In the present paper,…

Consider $d+2$ i.i.d. random points $X_1,\ldots, X_{d+2}$ in $\mathbb R^d$. In this note, we compute the probability that their convex hull is a simplex focusing on three specific distributional settings: (i) the distribution of $X_1$ is…

We consider one-dimensional discrete-time random walks (RWs) with arbitrary symmetric and continuous jump distributions $f(\eta)$, including the case of L\'evy flights. We study the expected maximum ${\mathbb E}[M_n]$ of bridge RWs, i.e.,…

Take a centered random walk S_n and consider the sequence of its partial sums A_n = S_1 + ... + S_n. Suppose S_1 is in the domain of normal attraction of an \alpha-stable law with 1 < \alpha <= 2. Assuming that S_1 is either…

Let $S=(S_n)$ be an oscillatory random walk on the integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}$ with i.i.d. increments. Let $V_{{\rm d}}(x)$ be the renewal function of the strictly descending ladder height process for $S$. We obtain several sufficient…

A natural extension of a right-continuous integer-valued random walk is one which can jump to the right by one or two units. First passage times above a given fixed level then admit a tractable Laplace transform (probability generating…

Consider a random walk $S_i= \xi_1+\ldots+\xi_i$, $i\in\mathbb N$, whose increments $\xi_1,\xi_2,\ldots$ are independent identically distributed random vectors in $\mathbb R^d$ such that $\xi_1$ has the same law as $-\xi_1$ and $\mathbb…

Pick $n$ independent and uniform random points $U_1,\ldots,U_n$ in a compact convex set $K$ of $\mathbb{R}^d$ with volume 1, and let $P^{(d)}_K(n)$ be the probability that these points are in convex position. The Sylvester conjecture in…

We prove for an arbitrary one-dimensional random walk with independent increments that the probability of crossing a level at a given time n has the order of square root of n. Moment or symmetry assumptions are not necessary. In removing…

J. J. Sylvester's four-point problem asks for the probability that four points chosen uniformly at random in the plane have a triangle as their convex hull. Using a combinatorial classification of points in the plane due to Goodman and…

We prove that an integrated simple random walk, where random walk and integrated random walk are conditioned to return to zero, has asymptotic probability $n^{-1/2}$ to stay positive. This question is motivated by so-called random polymer…

The rotor walk on a graph is a deterministic analogue of random walk. Each vertex is equipped with a rotor, which routes the walker to the neighbouring vertices in a fixed cyclic order on successive visits. We consider rotor walk on an…

We prove an invariance principle for the bridge of a random walk conditioned to stay positive, when the random walk is in the domain of attraction of a stable law, both in the discrete and in the absolutely continuous setting. This includes…

We consider Gessel walks in the plane starting at the origin $(0, 0)$ remaining in the first quadrant $i, j \geq 0$ and made of West, North-East, East and South-West steps. Let $F(m; n_1, n_2)$ denote the number of these walks with exact…

We introduce a method to exactly generate bridge trajectories for discrete-time random walks, with arbitrary jump distributions, that are constrained to initially start at the origin and return to the origin after a fixed time. The method…

Fix integers $d \geq 2$ and $k\geq d-1$. Consider a random walk $X_0, X_1, \ldots$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$ in which, given $X_0, X_1, \ldots, X_n$ ($n \geq k$), the next step $X_{n+1}$ is uniformly distributed on the unit ball centred at $X_n$,…

Let $S_k$ be a random walk in $R^d$ such that its distribution of increments does not assign mass to hyperplanes. We study the probability $p_n$ that the convex hull $conv (S_1, \ldots , S_n)$ of the first $n$ steps of the walk does not…

A random walk with counterbalanced steps is a process of partial sums $\check S(n)=\check X_1+ \cdots + \check X_n$ whose steps $\check X_n$ are given recursively as follows. For each $n\geq 2$, with a fixed probability $p$, $\check X_n$ is…

Let n points be chosen randomly and independently in the unit disk. "Sylvester's question" concerns the probability p_n that they are the vertices of a convex n-sided polygon. Here we establish the link with another problem. We show that…