PROBABILITY THEORY 1MS038 19 FEBRUARY 2021
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT 1
Please submit your solutions as a pdf file in Studium by Friday 5 March. Each problem counts
5 points.
1. Let {An, n ≥ 1} be a sequence of events in a probability space.
(a) Suppose that limn→∞ P (An) = 1. Prove that there exists an increasing subsequence
{nk, k ≥ 1} such k\≥1
that P An > 0.
k
(b) Give an example of a sequence of events (in a probability space of your choice)
with
P (An) ≥ 21 for all n ≥ 1 for which there is no such subsequence.
2. Let A1, A2, . . . , An be events in a probability space. Prove the following inequalities:
n k=1
n 1≤jΣ<k
(a) P [ A ≥ P (Ak) ≤n P (Aj ∩ Ak),
k Σk=1 − 1≤jΣ<k
k=1 n 1≤i<Σj<k
(b) P n ≤ ≤n ≤n
Σk=1 P (A j ∩ A k) P (Ai ∩ Aj ∩ Ak).
[ A P (Ak)
k − +
3. Prove: for every real-valued random variable X and every positive real number a, we have
∫
∞
P (x < X ≤ x + a) dx = a.
−∞
4. Prove: if {Xn, n ≥ 1} is a sequence of independent random variables, then the
following two statements are equivalent:
ˆ P (sup Xn <∞) = 1,
n≥1
Σ∞
ˆ there exists an a > 0 such that n=1 P (Xn > a) < ∞.
5. Let X1, X2, . . . , Xn be integrable random variables (i.e., E|Xk| < ∞), and let Y =
max1≤k≤n Xk .
(a) Prove that Y is also integrable.
(b) Prove that EXk ≤ EY for all k ∈ {1, 2, . . . , n}.
(c) Show by means of a counterexample that E|Xk| ≤ E|Y | does not necessarily hold.
6. Let X be a non-negative random variable. Show that
lim n E 1 I{X > n} = 0
n→ X
∞
and
1
E XI,X < n, = 0.
lim
n→∞ n
Here, I is an indicator function: I{X > n} = 1 if X > n, and I{X > n} = 0 otherwise.
7. Let X1, X2 be independent exponentially distributed random variables, with densities
f1(x) = λ1e−λ1x and f2(x) = λ2e−λ2x respectively (for x > 0).
(a) Determine the density of X1 + X2.
(b) Determine the density of min{X1, X2}.
8. Consider a Galton-Watson process whose offspring distribution has mean EX = 1 and
variance Var X = σ2 < ∞. Determine mean and variance of the number Yn of individuals
in generation n.