Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/iii/paper-109/3/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 109 3 i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Harris' inequality states that, for a product measure on with independent Bernoulli random variables of parameters , increasing events satisfyIn particular, the uniform probability measure on the Boolean lattice gives . We give a direct mathematical induction proof, so no stronger correlation theorem is assumed.
Prove more generally that for real coordinatewise increasing functions on the finite cube. For both are constant and equality holds. For the inductive step let , and let be the restrictions obtained by setting the last coordinate equal to . Write , , using the product measure on the other coordinates. Monotonicity gives , . By the inductive hypothesis and conditional expectation,The nonnegative correction term also handles and . Taking indicator functions , proves Harris' inequality.
For later use, an increasing event and a decreasing event have negative correlation of increasing and decreasing events. The complement is an increasing event, so
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