For Borel sets , multiply the finite-time Radon-Nikodym derivative into the product law of the increments:
The factorization, extended from rectangles to the product sigma-algebra, proves independence and identical distributions. Their common law is the exponential tilting
For , is bounded on , while on . Choosing a small two-sided neighborhood of still contained in gives an integrable dominating function for the derivative. Differentiation under the integral sign then yields
The mean under one-sided exponential tilting needs an endpoint qualification. At , finiteness of positive exponential moments makes integrable, but gives no integrability of . The formula holds with the right derivative and the extended mean . To see this, apply monotone convergence to and dominated convergence to as . A finite mean at zero is not guaranteed by the printed hypotheses: , , has finite for every but .
First take to be a nonnegative integer. The exponential tilting constructed from the independent increments restricts to on each . Since its Radon-Nikodym derivative is strictly positive, finite-time change of measure gives
Under the tilted law, is a martingale, because
Use the stopped likelihood ratio under exponential tilting at this finite horizon. In detail, , so
Here the last expression is defined only on the displayed event, so no value of is being assumed. The upward skip-free random walk has integer increments bounded above by one, which imply on a finite hit: the preceding value is at most , and there is no upward overshoot. Consequently
At , the mean under one-sided exponential tilting is finite and positive. The strong law of large numbers gives under , so every integer level is hit almost surely. Since , passing to gives
Let . The event is exactly the finite-hit event: an integer sequence with all its values below has supremum at most . Also . Subtraction of consecutive tail probabilities gives the geometric maximum of an upward skip-free random walk:
This is the geometric distribution counting failures before the first success, with success parameter .
The PDF writes only , without explicitly declaring integer levels. If it is read as allowing real , then and the displayed factor must be ; the hitting probability is likewise . For example, increments and with probabilities and have : hitting level has probability , not . The integer interpretation supplies the intended formula.