Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ia Paper 2 9F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a nonnegative integer-valued random variable, its expected value is , allowing the value . Since , rearranging nonnegative summands gives the tail-sum formula for expectation:No integrability assumption is needed for the rearrangement. The same formula holds for an extended nonnegative integer-valued variable by the monotone convergence theorem, using .
For the first ascent in independent continuous observations, continuity makes ties probability zero. By order symmetry of independent random variables, the first observations have each of their strict orderings with equal probability. For , means exactly that the first observations are decreasing, soSubtracting consecutive tails giveswith probability zero for . The events decrease to ; continuity of probability under decreasing intersections gives . Finally,The first observation cannot itself end the run; this is why the tail includes the separate term .