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For bounded measurable $g$ with $Pg=0$, the formula $p_t=p(1+tg)$ defines a normalized positive probability density function for $|t|\Vert g{\Vert }_{\infty }<1$. A uniform Taylor expansion of the square root proves differentiability in quadratic mean with score function $g$: the squared remainder is $O(t^{4}P{g}^4)$. Such paths realize all bounded centered directions of an unrestricted density model.

A statistical path through $P$ is a family $t\mapsto P_t\in \mathcal{P}$, defined on an open interval containing zero, with $P_0=P$. Write $p_t=d{P}_t/d\mu$ and $p=p_0$. Its differentiability in quadratic mean at zero means that there is a square-integrable function $g\in L^2(P)$ such thatThe function $g$ is the score function of the statistical path. Thus it is the derivative of the square-root probability density function, multiplied by two and divided by $\sqrt{p}$ where $p>0$. The score function is determined only $P$-almost everywhere. The displayed definition also controls any probability mass entering a region where $p=0$; a pointwise derivative of the log probability density function alone would not do that. The required derivative is in the square-root-density $L^2$ norm.

Put $r_t=\sqrt{p_t}-\sqrt{p}-(t/2)g\sqrt{p}$. By differentiability in quadratic mean, $\Vert r_t{\Vert }_{L^2(\mu )}=o(|t|)$ andin L2 space. The second limit follows because the first gives $\Vert \sqrt{p_t}-\sqrt{p}{\Vert }_2=O(|t|)$.

Both probability density functions integrate to one. Consequently the L2 inner product satisfiesThe Cauchy-Schwarz inequality permits passage to the limit in this inner product, givingThus every score function is a mean-zero function. This proof uses square-root differentiability in quadratic mean, without requiring differentiation under the density integral.

Let ${\delta }_t=\sqrt{p_t}-\sqrt{p}=(t/2)g\sqrt{p}+r_t$, with $\Vert r_t{\Vert }_2=o(|t|)$. Since $p_t-p=2\sqrt{p}{\delta }_t+{\delta }_t^2$, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives $\Vert p_t-p-tpg{\Vert }_1\le 2\Vert r_t{\Vert }_2+\Vert {\delta }_t{\Vert }_2^2=o(|t|)$. Thus differentiability in quadratic mean suffices to differentiate bounded density integrals, even when the density itself has no useful pointwise derivative.

A statistical path is a one-dimensional family of probability measures inside a statistical model, passing through a specified baseline $P$. A differentiability in quadratic mean condition gives its score function, the first-order direction of the family in square-root-density coordinates. The path must respect all restrictions of the statistical model, including normalization and any fixed moments.