Mathematics for Computer Science

(Frankie) #1

Chapter 17 Random Variables604


converges. Then


Ex

" 1


X


iD 0

Ri


D


X^1


iD 0

ExŒRiç:

Proof. LetTWWD


P 1


iD 0 Ri.
We leave it to the reader to verify that, under the given convergence hypothesis,
all the sums in the following derivation are absolutely convergent, which justifies
rearranging them as follows:


X^1

iD 0

ExŒRiçD

X^1


iD 0

X


s 2 S

Ri.s/PrŒsç (Def. 17.4.1)

D


X


s 2 S

X^1


iD 0

Ri.s/PrŒsç (exchanging order of summation)

D


X


s 2 S

" 1


X


iD 0

Ri.s/


PrŒsç (factoring out PrŒsç)

D


X


s 2 S

T.s/PrŒsç (Def. ofT)

DExŒTç (Def. 17.4.1)

DEx

" 1


X


iD 0

Ri


: (Def. ofT):

17.5.6 Expectations of Products


While the expectation of a sum is the sum of the expectations, the same is usually
not true for products. For example, suppose that we roll a fair 6-sided die and
denote the outcome with the random variableR. Does ExŒRRçDExŒRçExŒRç?
We know that ExŒRçD 312 and thus ExŒRç^2 D 1214. Let’s compute ExŒR^2 çto
see if we get the same result.


Ex




R^2





D


X


! 2 S

R^2 .!/PrŒwçD

X^6


iD 1

i^2 PrŒRiDiç

D


12


6


C


22


6


C


32


6


C


42


6


C


52


6


C


62


6


D15 1=6¤12 1=4:


That is,
ExŒRRç¤ExŒRçExŒRç:

So the expectation of a product is not always equal to the product of the expecta-
tions.

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