Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 26 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For fixed , independence and the product large-deviation principle give the vector the good rate function . Since the minimum is a continuous map, the contraction principle for large deviations givesIn every vector in this fibre, at least one coordinate equals and all others are at least . The large-deviation rate of a minimum of independent copies therefore reduces the infimum toIf , the other coordinates can equal and cost zero. If , the rate function is increasing on , so every coordinate costs at least and equality is achieved when all coordinates equal . For the cost is infinite. ThusAt the threshold both expressions are zero. Goodness follows from the contraction principle for large deviations. A small minimum requires only one atypically small mean; a large minimum requires all means to be atypically large, which explains the two costs.