Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford / 2022 / Discrete mathematics, continuous mathematics, and probability / Probability / 9 / b

Write $M_n={\max }_i{E}_i$. Each exponential distribution has cumulative distribution function $1-e^{-x}$ for $x\ge 0$. Independence therefore gives the maximum of independent exponential random variables formulaFor any fixed $y$, the threshold $y+\ln n$ is nonnegative for all sufficiently large $n$. ThenThis is convergence in distribution to the standard Gumbel distribution.

First $0\le M_n\le {\sum }_i{E}_i$, so linearity of expectation gives $\mathbb{E}{M}_n\le n<\infty$. The tail integral formula for expectation, followed by the finite binomial theorem expansion, givesThe exchange involves only a finite sum. As a useful check, substitution $t=e^{-x}$ rewrites the integral as ${\int }_0^1[1-(1-t{)}^n]/tdt={\sum }_{j=0}^{n-1}{\int }_0^1(1-t{)}^{j}dt={\sum }_{k=1}^{n}1/k$, the harmonic number $H_n$.