Algebra of sets 2026-10-06
A nonempty collection of subsets of a fixed universe closed under complements and finite unions, hence also finite intersections. It generates a sigma-algebra by allowing countable set operations. A countable generating algebra provides one simultaneous family of test indicators for measure-theoretic arguments.
Borel measure Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
A Borel measure on a topological space is a measure defined on the sigma-algebra generated by the open sets, equivalently on the Borel sets.
Borel set Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A Borel set in a topological space belongs to the smallest sigma-algebra containing every open set.
Borel sigma-algebra Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-03
The Borel sigma-algebra of a topological space is the sigma-algebra generated by its open sets. Its members are exactly the Borel sets.
For a probability law on , take the sequence space with product measure . The coordinate maps are an independent and identically distributed sequence with common law , and they generate the product sigma-algebra.
Complete measure 2026-10-05
A measure is complete when every subset of each null set is a measurable set. Such a subset also has measure zero by monotonicity. The completion of a measure extends it to a complete measure by adjoining all subsets of measurable null sets to its sigma-algebra.
Completion of a measure Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-05
The completion of a measure space adjoins every subset of every measurable null set to its sigma-algebra. A statement that two events or σ-algebras agree modulo null sets becomes literal after passing to the corresponding measure-algebra completion.
Complex measure Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
A complex measure is a countably additive complex-valued set function on a sigma-algebra. Its total variation norm of a measure is obtained by taking the supremum of sums over finite measurable partitions. For finite variation and absolute continuity of measures with respect to a sigma-finite positive measure, the Radon-Nikodym theorem supplies an integrable complex density.
For nonnegative integrable , the finite measure restricted to a sub-sigma-algebra is absolutely continuous with respect to the restricted base measure. Its Radon-Nikodym derivative is -measurable and has the required integral identities. Positive and negative parts extend the construction to real integrable functions; real and imaginary parts extend it to complex functions. The result is unique almost everywhere.
For independent and identically distributed random variables that are integrable random variables, with , symmetry gives . The decreasing sigma-algebras generated by these future sums permit application of the reverse martingale convergence theorem.
For a measurable partition and a sigma-algebra , the conditional information function is
The conditional expectation in this formula is positive almost everywhere on . Without conditioning, the information is .
Conditional Jensen inequality Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
For an integrable random variable , a sub-sigma-algebra , and a convex function with suitable integrability, almost surely. One proof writes as a supremum of supporting affine functions and applies monotonicity and linearity of conditional expectation to each. This proves the convex-loss form of the Rao-Blackwell theorem.
A dependency graph of events joins potentially dependent events. Each event must be independent of the sigma-algebra generated by all its nonneighbors, a joint condition stronger than pairwise independence. In a product probability space, joining events whose sets of underlying independent variables overlap gives such a graph. This supplies the hypothesis of the Lovász local lemma.
Set . On a finite measurable space, points in the same atom of a sigma-algebra give the same Dirac measure, so is a measurable function and constant on atoms. Every probability measure is a finite mixture of representative Dirac measures with its atom masses as weights. Affineness then proves the expected-utility representation, even when the sigma-algebra is smaller than the power set.
A filtered probability space is a probability space together with an increasing family of sigma-algebras describing the information available by time .
For increasing sigma-algebras , put and . For each atom and ,
Together with the bound by and the tail integral formula for moments, this yields . The inequality follows by stopping the conditional-expectation martingale the first time it falls below .
Measurable set Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
A subset of is measurable relative to a sigma-algebra when it belongs to . A measure defined on assigns sizes to these sets. Measurability depends on the chosen sigma-algebra; for example, a Lebesgue measurable set need not be a Borel set.