Gaussian hyperplane rounding 2026-10-06
Given a real unit-vector Gram matrix , draw a standard Gaussian random vector and set . Each coordinate is almost surely a sign; zero projections have probability zero. The same random separating hyperplane is used for every coordinate, so the signs need not be independent. Their pair expectations follow the Gaussian sign-correlation identity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 2 11F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write . The inverse change of variables is , whose Jacobian determinant has absolute value . Completing the square givesThe change of variables formula therefore transforms the joint probability density function toIt factors into two normalized standard normal distribution densities. Thus and are independent variables; factorization proves the requested independence, rather than simply zero covariance.
The standard Gaussian random vector has a rotation-invariant density. In polar coordinates, , , its density with the area factor is , so the angular coordinate is uniform on an interval of length .
Put , so andIn the right half-plane, choose . The additional condition then requires . This wedge has angle ; its boundary has probability zero. ConsequentlyAt this is , as required by independence. The limits as and are and zero, respectively. The angular calculation is also the geometric basis of the Gaussian sign-correlation identity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 2 f Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Gram matrix representation and give . For a standard Gaussian random vector , each is a standard normal scalar, so the zero event has probability zero. Choose either sign convention at zero; the resulting vector is almost surely a feasible sign vector. Consequently almost surely.
The Gaussian sign-correlation identity givesThe last equality uses symmetry of the real matrices. HenceThe inverse sine is applied entrywise, not through spectral matrix functional calculus.
For completeness, the correlation coefficient identity has a geometric proof. If the angle between two unit vectors is , the isotropic Gaussian random vector direction in their two-dimensional span gives opposite signs on angular sectors with probability . Thus the sign product has expectation . Parallel and antiparallel pairs give the endpoint values and directly. This is Gaussian hyperplane rounding, and needs no independence between the rounded coordinates.
Standard Gaussian random vector 2026-10-06
A Gaussian random vector with independent normal coordinates of expectation zero and variance one. Its distribution is invariant under orthogonal transformations. In particular, its direction in a fixed two-dimensional plane is uniform, which underlies the Gaussian sign-correlation identity.