Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ia/paper-2/11f/b/solution

For real random variables with finite second moments, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality is
The product is integrable because . If , then almost surely and the result is immediate. Otherwise the nonnegative expectation of a square gives, for every real ,
Choose . The resulting inequality is exactly the claimed Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Equality holds precisely when is a constant multiple of almost surely in this nondegenerate case.

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