Related papers: Difference prophet inequalities for [0,1]-valued i…

We introduce and study derivatives in first-passage percolation with edge weights given by i.i.d. random variables supported on ${a,b}$. We show that the variance of the passage time can be expressed in terms of these derivatives. We…

This paper concerns the estimation of sums of functions of observable and unobservable variables. Lower bounds for the asymptotic variance and a convolution theorem are derived in general finite- and infinite-dimensional models. An explicit…

``Behind every limit theorem, there is an inequality'' said Kolmogorov. We say ``for every inequality, there is an approximate inequality under approximate regularity conditions.'' Suppose $X, X'$ are independent and identically distributed…

We present a generalization of the maximal inequalities that upper bound the expectation of the maximum of $n$ jointly distributed random variables. We control the expectation of a randomly selected random variable from $n$ jointly…

When humans infer underlying probabilities from stochastic observations, they exhibit biases and variability that cannot be explained on the basis of sound, Bayesian manipulations of probability. This is especially salient when beliefs are…

Let $(X,Y)$ be a random variable consisting of an observed feature vector $X\in \mathcal{X}$ and an unobserved class label $Y\in \{1,2,...,L\}$ with unknown joint distribution. In addition, let $\mathcal{D}$ be a training data set…

For functions of independent random variables, various upper and lower variance bounds are revisited in diverse settings. These are then specialized to the Bernoulli, Gaussian, infinitely divisible cases and to Banach space valued random…

Optimal stopping theory is a powerful tool for analyzing scenarios such as online auctions in which we generally require optimizing an objective function over the space of stopping rules for an allocation process under uncertainty. Perhaps…

Let $S_n$ be a random walk with i.i.d. increments which have zero mean and finite variance. For every $x\ge0$ we define the stopping time $\tau_x:=\inf\{n\ge1:x+S_n\le0\}$ and consider the probabilities $\mathbb{P}(x+S_n\ge y,\tau_x>n)$. We…

In classical probability theory, the best predictor of a future observation of a random variable $X,$ is its expected value $E_P[X]$ when no other information is available When information consisting in the observation of another random…

A sequence $x_1,\dots,x_n,\dots$ of discrete-valued observations is generated according to some unknown probabilistic law (measure) $\mu$. After observing each outcome, one is required to give conditional probabilities of the next…

Let $\BS_1,...,\BS_n$ be independent identically distributed random variables each having the standardized Bernoulli distribution with parameter $p\in(0,1)$. Let $m_*(p):=(1+p+2p^2)/(2\sqrt{p-p^2}+4p^2)$ if $0<p\le 1/2$ and $m_*(p):=1$ if…

For arbitrary two probability measures on real d-space with given means and variances (covariance matrices), we provide lower bounds for their total variation distance. In the one-dimensional case, a tight bound is given.

In "Recognizing the Maximum of a Sequence", Gilbert and Mosteller analyze a full information game where n measurements from an uniform distribution are drawn and a player (knowing n) must decide at each draw whether or not to choose that…

We give the distribution of $M_n$, the maximum of a sequence of $n$ observations from a moving average of order 1. Solutions are first given in terms of repeated integrals and then for the case where the underlying independent random…

The metric properties of the set in which random variables take their values lead to relevant probabilistic concepts. For example, the mean of a random variable is a best predictor in that it minimizes the standard Euclidean distance or…

We study weakest precondition reasoning about the (co)variance of outcomes and the variance of run-times of probabilistic programs with conditioning. For outcomes, we show that approximating (co)variances is computationally more difficult…

We propose some new results on the comparison of the minimum or maximum order statistic from a random number of non-identical random variables. Under the non-identical set-up, with certain conditions, we prove that random minimum (maximum)…

In the Prophet Secretary problem, samples from a known set of probability distributions arrive one by one in a uniformly random order, and an algorithm must irrevocably pick one of the samples as soon as it arrives. The goal is to maximize…

We provide an upper bound as a random variable for the functions of estimators in high dimensions. This upper bound may help establish the rate of convergence of functions in high dimensions. The upper bound random variable may converge…