Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/ii/paper-3/28k/b/solution

Condition on the observed value . If a classifier reports class zero, its conditional probability of error is ; if it reports class one, the conditional error is . Therefore the smaller conditional error is attained by class one exactly when
and by class zero exactly when the reverse strict inequality holds. Integrating these pointwise conditional errors proves that is a Bayes classifier.
The only possible nonuniqueness lies on the tie set
Because the two Gaussian class distributions are distinct, is not identically zero. It is a nonzero polynomial of degree at most two, so its zero set has Lebesgue measure zero. Both Gaussian laws have densities with respect to Lebesgue measure, hence assign probability zero to . Every Bayes rule must therefore agree with almost surely. This proves the uniqueness of a Bayes classifier up to the standard null-set equivalence of decision rules.

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