Dvoretzky-Kiefer-Wolfowitz inequality 2026-10-18
For independent and identically distributed real random variables with cumulative distribution function , the Dvoretzky-Kiefer-Wolfowitz inequality gives, for every and ,The supremum is the Kolmogorov distance: a single event controls all thresholds simultaneously. The bound holds for discrete, continuous, and mixed probability distributions.[ref]
For one fixed threshold, Hoeffding's inequality gives the same expression as an upper bound on . That fixed-threshold result alone does not justify moving the supremum inside the probability. The DKW inequality is the stronger statement needed for a simultaneous empirical distribution confidence band.