Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2011/ia/paper-2/3f/c/solution

Construct independent copies of , also independent of , and define the random sum , taking the empty sum to be zero. Independence gives, conditional on ,
The law of total expectation gives the transform composition for an independent random sum
The summands are nonnegative, so this equality is valid also as an extended-valued expectation. Where the right-hand side is finite, it is the ordinary moment-generating function of the constructed random sum. The construction does not assert a finite moment-generating function near zero for arbitrary : heavy tails can prevent this. For example a nonnegative with no positive exponential moments and already shows the necessary qualification.

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