Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-37/6/i/d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 37 6 i d Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Apply the Monte Carlo estimator to the observable :The theoretical justification is the ergodic theorem for a positive Harris recurrent Markov chain, not an independent-sample law of large numbers. The Markov chain has finite state space, is irreducible, and has the strictly positive posterior distribution as invariant law, so it is positive recurrent and Harris recurrent with counting measure. The observable is bounded: . Thus the estimator converges almost surely to the posterior expected value from any initial configuration.
Each state also has positive self-transition probability, so the chain is an aperiodic Markov chain. Finiteness then gives geometric convergence and the relevant central limit theorem; serial dependence determines the Markov chain Monte Carlo asymptotic variance if error bars are required. A fixed finite burn-in can be discarded without changing consistency, but independence of the retained states should not be assumed.
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