Convolution of a Cauchy distribution and a uniform distribution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Let have the Standard Cauchy distribution and let , independently, have the uniform distribution on , where . The convolution of probability densities gives the probability density of asThis is an even function. Its derivative isso its unique mode is zero. Its tails satisfy as : multiplying the integral by makes the integrand converge uniformly to on the bounded interval . Consequently both positive and negative parts of the first moment diverge, so its expected value does not exist. The symmetric Cauchy principal value of that moment is zero, which is a different assertion. Adding a bounded independent displacement smooths the probability density without removing the divergent first moment of the Cauchy distribution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 48 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Group the two terms containing to obtain the mixture distributionThe first component is a Standard Cauchy distribution. The second is normalized becauseFor this symmetric component, let . Its density is , and hence its cumulative distribution function and quantile function areThe independent sign is positive or negative with equal probability. For one sample, use the next three independent uniforms in the given sequence and returnThe Cauchy branch follows from its quantile function, while the other branch follows from the magnitude law and fair sign just derived. Independence of the branch selection and component draws therefore gives exactly the displayed mixture distribution. Discard the zero-probability endpoint draw to keep the computation finite, and use a fresh block of three uniforms for the next sample. This is the symmetric rational mixture sampler.
One can alternatively use the root solution's rejection sampling with a Standard Cauchy distribution proposal. The density ratio is , bounded by because . Accept the Cauchy draw with probability using a fresh independent uniform.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 30 5 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The strong law for Brownian motion says almost surely. For sufficiently large , therefore , givingThus has finite terminal quadratic variation. Stopping when its bracket reaches each integer makes it an -bounded martingale, which converges by the martingale convergence theorem. Patching these limits shows thatis a well-defined finite almost sure limit. This construction uses local square integrability; a global bound is not required.
Conditional on the entire path, the independent Brownian motion still supplies a centered Gaussian stochastic integral, with variance . The conditionally Gaussian stochastic integral with an independent integrator therefore has no atoms, even after averaging over .
Also almost surely. For each fixed , the relation then gives, outside the null event ,Part (b) identifies the cumulative distribution:Hence has the Standard Cauchy distribution. This establishes the Cauchy law of an infinite-horizon Brownian exponential integral.
Standard Cauchy density and cumulative distribution, with the latter equal to the positive-divergence probability
. Details. Strong law of large numbers Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be real independent and identically distributed random variables with , and let be their expected value. Their sample mean satisfiesThis is almost sure convergence: with probability one, an entire infinite sequence of observations has averages that eventually stay within every prescribed positive tolerance of . The variance need not be finite. The strong law of large numbers implies the weak law of large numbers, which asserts convergence in probability at each increasing sample size.
For independent trials with a Bernoulli distribution of parameter , is one for success and zero for failure. Then is the observed success proportion, and the strong law of large numbers says almost surely. This turns a theoretical probability into a quantity one can estimate by repetition. It does not say that each new trial improves the estimate: a long string of failures can move the proportion away from before later observations bring it back.
The strong law of large numbers gives the limiting location of the sample mean, while the central limit theorem describes its fluctuations when the variance is finite and positive. The two assertions can hold together:The first error shrinks to zero; the second has been enlarged enough to retain a nontrivial probability distribution. The second assertion is convergence in distribution, not a claim that the enlarged error along one sequence approaches a particular normal random variable.
The assumptions make a practical difference. If every observation repeats the same nonconstant Bernoulli random variable, , then for all : identical probability distributions alone do not make repeated observations informative. For independent observations with a Standard Cauchy distribution, the Cauchy sample mean has an unchanged distribution, so it does not concentrate around a constant. Its expected value is undefined, and ; neither example contradicts the stated strong law of large numbers.
A brief proof outline in the case of finite variance uses the Kolmogorov maximal inequality for the centered partial sums. The probability that their maximum up to exceeds is at most . These bounds are summable, so the Borel-Cantelli lemma controls all sufficiently large such blocks and hence every intermediate sample size. The general case requires truncation to control large observations; the argument using finite variance alone does not prove that full version.
Student's t-distribution Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-20
The Student's t-distribution describes a standard normal random variable divided by an independent estimate of its scale. For any real , let have the standard normal distribution and let have the chi-squared distribution, with and independent. ThenThe parameter is called the number of statistical degrees of freedom. It need not be an integer: the chi-squared distribution is a gamma distribution with shape and rate . The independence assumption is essential; specifying only the two marginal distributions does not determine the probability distribution of their ratio.
Its probability density function on the whole real line iswhere is the gamma function. Every member is a symmetric distribution about zero. At it is the Standard Cauchy distribution; as it approaches the standard normal distribution. The essential shape change is the tail: at any fixed finite , decays like a constant times , much more slowly than the standard normal density's exponential decay. Thus it is a heavy-tailed distribution. [ref]
1.3.6.6.4. t Distribution. NIST and SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods; NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook, Section 1.3.6.6.4: density, Cauchy special case and normal limit; the ratio derivation here also permits noninteger degrees of freedom
The left panel shows the centers; the right panel uses a logarithmic scale to reveal the tails that a linear plot hides. All four curves have location zero and scale one. They do not have the same variance: the curve has no finite mean or variance, whereas has variance 3 and has variance .
More generally, the absolute moment for is finite exactly when , as follows by comparing the tail integrand with . ConsequentlyFor there is no finite mean; symmetry alone cannot supply one. For the mean exists but the variance is infinite. For even the centered definition of variance is unavailable because the mean does not exist.
A shifted and scaled version , , has probability density function . The scale is not its standard deviation: for ,For example, and scale give standard deviation , rather than 2. The distinction matters when using a Student's t-distribution to model data with occasional extreme values, as well as when interpreting a Student t confidence interval.
Symmetric rational mixture sampler 2026-10-14
The displayed mixture distribution combines a Standard Cauchy distribution and a symmetric law whose magnitude has cumulative distribution function for . Use independent uniforms : if , return ; otherwise return a fair independent sign times . The magnitude density is and splitting its mass equally between signs gives . An alternative rejection sampling proposal is standard Cauchy, with envelope constant , because .


