For a continuous function on , let be its dyadic slope martingale. Then is an absolutely continuous function if and only ifThis is exactly uniform integrability. The uniformly integrable martingale convergence theorem gives convergence in L1 , while their integrated linear interpolations converge uniformly to . Hence . Conversely, if has density , its slopes are , and the uniform integrability of conditional expectations proves the criterion. The dyadic tail integral is also the sum of the absolute endpoint increments in cells whose slope is at least in magnitude.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 201 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Martingale convergence theorem in its -bounded form says that a martingale with has an integrable limit andThe norm bound on the limit follows from Fatou lemma. Boundedness in by itself does not imply convergence in L1. The uniformly integrable martingale convergence theorem gives the stronger conclusion: if is uniformly integrable, then both almost surely and in L1 norm, and . Conversely, convergence in L1 implies uniform integrability.
For the distinction, the fair-coin doubling martingale has expectation one for every but converges almost surely to zero. Its L1 norm remains one, so its convergence is not in L1 norm. These two formulations specify exactly which hypothesis is needed in part (d).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 201 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the same dyadic slope martingale and dyadic filtration as in (c). Each is integrable, since it takes finitely many finite values. On each dyadic cell, the absolute slope is times the absolute endpoint increment. Consequently the hypothesis in the PDF is exactlyThus is uniformly integrable. It is also bounded in L1 norm: choose a finite at which the supremum of the tails is finite, and use . The uniformly integrable martingale convergence theorem supplies with in L1 norm.
The functions are again the dyadic linear interpolations of . Since is continuous on a compact interval, it is uniformly continuous, and , where is its modulus of continuity. On the other hand, the integral of is uniformly bounded in absolute value by . Hence the dyadic slope-tail criterion for absolute continuity givesNo boundedness of is asserted here; the tail condition permits integrable densities that are unbounded.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 201 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A sequence of integrable random variables has uniform integrability exactly whenThe uniformly integrable martingale convergence theorem states that a uniformly integrable discrete-time martingale has an integrable random variable withIndeed, uniform integrability implies , so the Martingale convergence theorem gives almost sure convergence. The combination of uniform integrability and almost sure convergence gives convergence in L1. For , the martingale identity passes to the limit by the L1 contraction of conditional expectation.
Conversely, uniform integrability of conditional expectations shows that a martingale of the form for one integrable random variable is uniformly integrable.