Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/iii/paper-47/2/a/solution

For an integrable real function , let . For every measurable region ,
The first term is nonnegative because there, and the integral subtracted in the second term is nonpositive. Hence the negative set minimizes the integral. Including or excluding any points where has no effect; changes on null sets do not matter either. This is the minimum-integral decision region principle. Integrability ensures the subtraction is defined, and it holds automatically for the weighted differences of probability density functions used below.

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