Steven R. Dunbar
Department of Mathematics
203 Avery Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588-0130
http://www.math.unl.edu
Voice: 402-472-3731
Fax: 402-472-8466

Topics in
Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes
Steven R. Dunbar

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Orders of Growth

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Note: These pages are prepared with MathJax. MathJax is an open source JavaScript display engine for mathematics that works in all browsers. See http://mathjax.org for details on supported browsers, accessibility, copy-and-paste, and other features.

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### Rating

Mathematically Mature: may contain mathematics beyond calculus with proofs.

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### Section Starter Question

What would it mean to say that the sequence ${n}^{3}+50{n}^{2}+100000$ grows at the same rate as ${n}^{3}$? How could you make that precise?

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### Key Concepts

1. ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if ${limsup}_{n\to \infty }\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|<\infty$.
2. ${a}_{n}=\Omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if ${liminf}_{n\to \infty }\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|>0$.
3. ${a}_{n}=o\left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if $\underset{n\to \infty }{lim}\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|=0$.
4. ${a}_{n}=\omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if $\underset{n\to \infty }{lim}\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|=\infty$.
5. ${a}_{n}\sim {b}_{n}$ (as $n\to \infty$) if ${a}_{n}=\left(1+o\left(1\right)\right){b}_{n}$.

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### Vocabulary

1. We say ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if there are constants $C>0$ and ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that $|{a}_{n}|\le C|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.
2. We say ${a}_{n}=\Omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if ${b}_{n}=O\left({a}_{n}\right)$, that is there are constants $C>0$ and ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that $|{a}_{n}|\ge C|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.
3. We say ${a}_{n}=o\left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if for all $𝜖>0$ there is an ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that $|{a}_{n}|\le 𝜖|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.
4. ${a}_{n}\sim {b}_{n}$ (as $n\to \infty$) if ${a}_{n}=\left(1+o\left(1\right)\right){b}_{n}$.

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### Mathematical Ideas

#### Deﬁnitions

Let ${a}_{n}$, ${b}_{n}$ be sequences of real numbers indexed by $n\in ℕ$. Assume that ${a}_{n}$, ${b}_{n}$ are nonzero except for ﬁnitely many terms.

Deﬁnition. We say ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if there are constants $C>0$ and ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that $|{a}_{n}|\le C|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.

The deﬁnition says that ${a}_{n}$ grows in magnitude slower than ${b}_{n}$, or that (a constant multiple of) ${b}_{n}$ is a upper bound on ${a}_{n}$.

Deﬁnition. We say ${a}_{n}=\Omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if ${b}_{n}=O\left({a}_{n}\right)$, that is there are constants $C>0$ and ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that $|{a}_{n}|\ge C|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.

The deﬁnition says that ${a}_{n}$ grows in magnitude faster than ${b}_{n}$, or that (a constant multiple of) ${b}_{n}$ is a lower bound on ${a}_{n}$.

Deﬁnition. We say ${a}_{n}=\Theta \left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ and ${a}_{n}=\Omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$, that is there are constants ${C}_{1}>0$, ${C}_{2}>0$ and ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that ${C}_{1}|{b}_{n}|\le |{a}_{n}|\le {C}_{2}|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.

The deﬁnition says that ${a}_{n}$ grows in magnitude at about the same rate as ${b}_{n}$.

Lemma 1.

1. ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if ${limsup}_{n\to \infty }\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|<\infty$.
2. ${a}_{n}=\Omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if ${liminf}_{n\to \infty }\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|>0$.

Deﬁnition. We say ${a}_{n}=o\left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if for all $𝜖>0$ there is an ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that $|{a}_{n}|\le 𝜖|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.

The deﬁnition says that if ${b}_{n}\to 0$, then ${a}_{n}$ diminishes to $0$ faster than ${b}_{n}$, or that (a constant multiple of) ${b}_{n}$ is a upper bound on ${a}_{n}$.

Deﬁnition. We say ${a}_{n}=\omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ as $n\to \infty$ if ${b}_{n}=o\left({a}_{n}\right)$, that is for every constants $K>0$ there is an ${n}_{0}\in ℕ$ such that $|{a}_{n}|\ge K|{b}_{n}|$ for all $n\ge {n}_{0}$.

Lemma 2.

1. ${a}_{n}=o\left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if $\underset{n\to \infty }{lim}\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|=0$.
2. ${a}_{n}=\omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ if and only if $\underset{n\to \infty }{lim}\left|\frac{{a}_{n}}{{b}_{n}}\right|=\infty$.
3. ${a}_{n}=o\left({b}_{n}\right)$ implies ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$.
4. ${a}_{n}=\omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$ implies ${a}_{n}=\Omega \left({b}_{n}\right)$.

Remark. Read the equality symbol “$=$” in ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ not as equality, but rather as membership. In other words, ${a}_{n}=O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ asserts that ${a}_{n}$ belongs to the class of $O\left({b}_{n}\right)$ sequences. This abuse of the equality notation can be confusing at times. Consequently, we should more properly write ${a}_{n}\in O\left({b}_{n}\right)$, but the equality sign is more commonly used.

Since equality means membership, asymptotic notations must always be read from left to right. For example, statements like ${f}_{n}=O\left(n\right)=O\left({n}^{2}\right)$, mean ${f}_{n}$ belongs to the $O\left(n\right)$ class of sequences which is in turn contained inside the $O\left({n}^{2}\right)$ class. Note that the order of the terms in the above asymptotic statement cannot be changed.

Remark. Furthermore, expressions like

${f}_{n}={\mathrm{e}}^{n+O\left(\sqrt{n}\right)}$

mean that there is a sequence ${g}_{n}=O\left(\sqrt{n}\right)$ such that ${f}_{n}={\mathrm{e}}^{n+{g}_{n}}$. Similar considerations apply to the $\Omega \left(\right)$, $\Theta \left(\right)$, $o\left(\right)$ and $\omega \left(\right)$ notations.

#### Little-Oh Notation and Asymptotics

Lemma 3. ${a}_{n}\sim {b}_{n}$ (as $n\to \infty$) if ${a}_{n}=\left(1+o\left(1\right)\right){b}_{n}$.

#### Big-Oh Algebra

The deﬁnitions above can be easily modiﬁed from sequences to functions.

Deﬁnition. We say $f\left(t\right)=O\left(g\left(t\right)\right)$ as $x\to \infty$ if there are constants $C>0$ and $A\in ℝ$ such that $|f\left(t\right)|\le C|g\left(t\right)|$ for all $t\ge A$.

The following propositions stated in terms of functions can be easily modiﬁed to equivalent propositions abut sequences.

Proposition 4 (Addition). If $f\left(t\right)=O\left({t}^{n}\right)$ and $g\left(t\right)=O\left({t}^{n}\right)$ then $f\left(t\right)+g\left(t\right)=O\left({t}^{n}\right)$

Proposition 5 (Powers). If $f\left(t\right)=O\left({t}^{n}\right)$, then ${t}^{m}f\left(t\right)=O\left({t}^{m+n}\right)$.

#### Common Expansions Using Big-Oh Expressions

Proposition 6 (One-Term Geometric Series Expansion). As $t\to 0$,

$\frac{1}{1+t}=1+O\left(t\right).$

Proposition 7 (One-Term Logarithm Expansion). As $t\to 0$,

$log\left(1+t\right)=t+O\left(1∕{t}^{2}\right).$

Proposition 8 (Two-Term Logarithm Expansion). As $t\to 0$,

$log\left(1+t\right)=t-{t}^{2}∕2+O\left(1∕{t}^{3}\right).$

Proposition 9 (Square-Root Expansion). As $t\to 0$,

$\sqrt{1+t}=1+O\left(t\right)$

Example. The Section on Moderate Deviations use the following expansions

$\begin{array}{llll}\hfill \frac{n}{k\left(n-k\right)}& =\frac{1}{np\left(1-p\right)}\cdot \left(1+{\text{O}}_{u}\left({c}_{n}{n}^{-1∕3}\right)\right)\phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}& \hfill & \phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}\\ \hfill \sqrt{\frac{n}{k\left(n-k\right)}}& =\frac{1}{\sqrt{np\left(1-p\right)}}\cdot \left(1+{\text{O}}_{u}\left({c}_{n}{n}^{-1∕3}\right)\right).\phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}& \hfill \text{(1)}\end{array}$

The subscript u on $O$ is to indicate that the estimate is uniform over $k=0,1,\dots ,n$.

Proposition 10 (Exponential Expansion). As $t\to 0$,

$exp\left(1+t\right)=1+O\left(t\right)$

Example. In the section on Moderate Deviations, we need the following expansion

$\begin{array}{llll}\hfill ln\left[{\left(\frac{n}{k}p\right)}^{k}{\left(\frac{n}{n-k}\left(1-p\right)\right)}^{n-k}\right]& =-\frac{1}{2}{\left(k-np\right)}^{2}\left(\frac{1}{k}+\frac{1}{n-k}\right)+\phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}& \hfill & \phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}\\ \hfill & \phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}k{\text{O}}_{u}\left({c}_{n}^{3}{n}^{-1}\right)+\left(n-k\right){\text{O}}_{u}\left({c}_{n}^{3}{n}^{-1}\right)\phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}& \hfill & \phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}\\ \hfill & =-\frac{1}{2}{\left(k-np\right)}^{2}\frac{1}{np\left(1-p\right)}+{\text{O}}_{u}\left({c}_{n}^{3}\right).\phantom{\rule{2em}{0ex}}& \hfill \text{(2)}\end{array}$ Thus
${\left(\frac{np}{k}\right)}^{k}{\left(\frac{n\left(1-p\right)}{n-k}\right)}^{n-k}=exp\left(\frac{-{\left(k-np\right)}^{2}}{2np\left(1-p\right)}\right)\left(1+{\text{O}}_{u}\left({c}_{n}^{3}\right)\right).$

Proposition 11 ($p$-Series Tail Expansion).

$\sum _{n+1}^{\infty }\frac{1}{{k}^{2}}=O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)$

Proof.

$\sum _{n+1}^{\infty }\frac{1}{{k}^{2}}\le \sum _{n+1}^{\infty }\frac{1}{k\left(k-1\right)}=\frac{1}{n}$

#### Sources

This deﬁnitions, some of the remarks and the problems are adapted from lecture notes by Xavier Perez Gimenez.

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### Problems to Work for Understanding

1. Explain what is wrong with the following fallacious proof of the claim ${n}^{2}=O\left(n\right)$ by induction: “The base case $1=O\left(1\right)$ is clearly true. Assuming that ${\left(n-1\right)}^{2}=O\left(n-1\right)$, we easily derive ${n}^{2}={\left(n-1\right)}^{2}+2n-1=O\left(n-1\right)+O\left(n\right)+O\left(n\right)=O\left(n\right)$.”
2. Let ${f}_{n}$, ${g}_{n}$ be positive sequences tending to $\infty$. Prove or disprove each of the following statements:
1. ${f}_{n}\sim {g}_{n}$ implies ${\mathrm{e}}^{{f}_{n}}\sim {\mathrm{e}}^{{g}_{n}}$.
2. ${f}_{n}\sim {g}_{n}$ implies $log{f}_{n}\sim log{g}_{n}$.

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