Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ia / Paper 2 / 10F / a / Solution

Apply Markov's inequality to the nonnegative random variable $e^{\lambda X}$, since $X>t$ implies $e^{\lambda X}>e^{\lambda t}$:This exponential Markov bound remains true, though uninformative, when the expected value is infinite. For a standard normal distribution, completion of the square gives its moment-generating functionMinimize ${\lambda }^2/2-\lambda t$ over positive $\lambda$; the choice $\lambda =t$ gives the Chernoff bound