1.
April 1st, 2016 - Lecture:
Covariance and Chebyshev's
Inequality
1. Topics
Variance of a sum of dependent random variables and the definition of covariance.
Properties of covariance. Independence implies correlation but the converse does not hold.
Statement of Chebyshev's inequality and a basic application.
2. Introduction
If X and Y are indepedant, thenV(X+Y)=V(X)+V(Y)
If not, then equality may or may not hold.
Example: A case where equality does not hold.
o Take P(X=1)=12, P(X=0)=12, x=1Y=0, x=1,Y=1.V(Y)=14
o SoV(X)+V(Y)=14+14=12
o V(X+Y) equals 0? X+Y will always be 1.V(X+Y)<V(X)+V(Y)
3. Variance
"Swinging together"V(X+Y)<V(X)+V(Y)
"Swings unrelated"V(X+Y)=V(X)+V(Y)
"Swings are opposite each other"V(X+Y)>V(X)+V(Y)
We want to measure "how much they're together or opposite."
The covariance of X and Y is defined to be:Cov(x,y)=E[E(xE[x])(yE[y])]
Intuition
o "Swing together"Cov(X,Y)>0
o "Swings unrelated"Cov(X,Y)=0
o "Swings opposite"Cov(X,Y)<0
Example (non rigourous pictures)
o Examples, x is height and y is shoe sizeCov(X,Y)>0
o v | .
o a | . .
o l | . . .
o u | . . .
o e | . . .
o | . . .
o y | . .
o | .
o 0 +-----------------
o 0 value of X
o Examples, x is temp and y is sales of hot chocolateCov(X,Y)<0
o v | .
o a | . .
o l | . . .
o u | . . .
o e | . . .
o | . . .
o y | . .
o | .
o 0 +-----------------
o 0 value of X
Formula:Cov(X,Y)=E(XY)E(X)E(Y)
Claim: If X,Y are indepedant, Cov(X,Y)=0
o ProofCov(X,Y)=E(XY)E(X)E(Y)
=E(X)E(Y)E(X)E(Y)
=0
4. Tchbycheff's Inequility
Recall Markov's give tail bound base only on E(X)
Chebyshev's give tail bound using E(X) and V(X)
Chebyshev's Theorem: Let X be a random variable with E(X)=
o Then for any >0.
Example: Roll a fair die 100 times and let Z be the sum and X1, ..., X100 be
the outcomes.
o What's the probability that Z are within 50 of its mean?