Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / iii / Paper 201 / 1 / c

Set $M_n={\sum }_{j=0}^n{X}_j$ and ${\mathcal{F}}_n=\sigma (X_0,\dots ,X_n)$. The independence and zero expected values give $\mathbb{E}[M_{n+1}\mid {\mathcal{F}}_n]=M_n$, so $(M_n)$ is a martingale. The variance additivity for independent random variables givesThe Cauchy-Schwarz inequality implies ${\sup }_n\mathbb{E}|M_n|\le \sqrt{V}$. Applying the martingale convergence theorem from (b),In fact the L2 martingale convergence theorem also gives convergence in L2. Independently, for $n>m$ the same variance additivity for independent random variables yields $\mathbb{E}|M_n-M_m{|}^2={\sum }_{j=m+1}^n\mathbb{E}[X_j^2]\to 0$, confirming that the partial sums form a Cauchy sequence in $L^2$.