Expand around the expectation :
Thus variance as the minimum mean squared error of a constant gives
The finite second moment also guarantees the finite first absolute moment needed below.
For a probability density function , splitting at gives
Let be the cumulative distribution function. Since a density gives no mass at a singleton, differentiating under this integral yields . This derivative is nondecreasing, so is convex and
This is the median minimizes expected absolute loss property. The minimizer need not be unique: a gap in the density can give an interval of medians, all with the same loss.
Set . The chain rule gives , so the transformed equation is the forced harmonic oscillator , with and . Therefore
This real solution is defined only where its logarithm has positive argument. Put and . Then , and the connected interval containing zero is .
Since , a stationary point requires . The positive branch cannot contain the oscillator minimum . It contains the maximum , attained first at . Hence
At the endpoints where , tends to minus infinity; the oscillator solution cannot be continued through those zeros as a finite real .
The characteristic polynomial factors as , so the complementary solution is . Each exponential forcing resonates with a homogeneous mode; the method of undetermined coefficients therefore uses and . Substitution gives the particular solution . Thus
The initial conditions give and . Hence
The factors of in the particular solution are essential: an unmodified exponential trial lies in the kernel of the differential operator.
Use the positive-support geometric distribution, for , . Differentiating the geometric series supplies
For the jar, let be the waiting time to remove one red ball when exactly red balls remain. Every draw has success probability , so is geometric with that parameter. The are independent: after each success, fresh independent draws begin a new stage, and its conditional waiting distribution depends only on the deterministic count , not on earlier waiting times. Replacing a green ball leaves that stage's count unchanged.
Thus the coupon collector problem decomposition is , and
This is the coupon collector waiting-time variance. For , the formula correctly gives zero variance and a deterministic one-minute completion.
For the probability generating function , differentiation gives
The second derivative is a factorial moment, not the raw second moment.
In the Galton-Watson process, condition on . The next generation is a sum of independent offspring counts, and so its conditional generating function is . Averaging over gives
The conditional mean is and the conditional variance is . Thus iterated expectation gives from one ancestor, and the law of total variance gives , . Iterating yields the branching-process generation moments
For the critical case , the correct limiting value is . If , nonnegative offspring are zero almost surely, so every later generation has zero mean and variance; handle this directly rather than use an ambiguous zero power. At generation zero the mean is one and variance zero.
The branching-process extinction criterion states that extinction probability is the smallest fixed point of in : probabilities of extinction by successive generations are the iterates of from zero, increasing to that fixed point. Here the equation is , factoring as . The two admissible roots are and one, so
For a linear map , its kernel and image of a linear map are
The kernel is a subspace of the domain and the image a subspace of the codomain. Given the stated bases, define the matrix of a linear map by
Its th column is the coordinate vector of ; if , the output coordinates are .
For the change of basis, write and . The matrices are invertible. Input coordinates change by and output coordinates by , so
The domain and codomain basis changes need not be the same matrix.
For , the two input vectors form a basis of , so its image is the span of and . The vector is orthogonal to both, since . Every possible output therefore satisfies , whereas the target itself is and . Hence there is no with the required output. This uses an image obstruction by an annihilating functional, rather than an inconsistent guessed input.
For , use the input basis , , . Its determinant is , so it is genuinely a basis. Write . Then
Substitution back into physical coordinates gives
For a direct check, its standard matrix is , which annihilates exactly that line.

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