Hsu–Robbins–Erdős Theorem
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mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
theory of probability Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...
, the Hsu–Robbins–Erdős theorem states that if X_1, \ldots ,X_n is a sequence of i.i.d.
random variable A random variable (also called random quantity, aleatory variable, or stochastic variable) is a mathematical formalization of a quantity or object which depends on random events. It is a mapping or a function from possible outcomes (e.g., the po ...
s with zero mean and finite variance and : S_n = X_1 + \cdots + X_n, \, then : \sum\limits_ P( , S_n , > \varepsilon n) < \infty for every \varepsilon > 0. The result was proved by
Pao-Lu Hsu Pao-Lu Hsu or Xu Baolu (; September 1, 1910 – December 18, 1970) was a Chinese mathematician noted for his work in probability theory and statistics. Life and career Pao-Lu Hsu was born in Beijing on September 1, 1910, with his ancestral hom ...
and
Herbert Robbins Herbert Ellis Robbins (January 12, 1915 – February 12, 2001) was an American mathematician and statistician. He did research in topology, measure theory, statistics, and a variety of other fields. He was the co-author, with Richard Courant ...
in 1947. This is an interesting strengthening of the classical strong
law of large numbers In probability theory, the law of large numbers (LLN) is a theorem that describes the result of performing the same experiment a large number of times. According to the law, the average of the results obtained from a large number of trials shou ...
in the direction of the
Borel–Cantelli lemma In probability theory, the Borel–Cantelli lemma is a theorem about sequences of events. In general, it is a result in measure theory. It is named after Émile Borel and Francesco Paolo Cantelli, who gave statement to the lemma in the first de ...
. The idea of such a result is probably due to Robbins, but the method of proof is vintage Hsu. Hsu and Robbins further conjectured in that the condition of finiteness of the variance of X is also a necessary condition for \sum\limits_ P(, S_n , > \varepsilon n) < \infty to hold. Two years later, the famed mathematician
Paul Erdős Paul Erdős ( hu, Erdős Pál ; 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. pursued and proposed problems in ...
proved the conjecture. Since then, many authors extended this result in several directions.Hsu-Robbins theorem for the correlated sequences
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsu-Robbins-Erdos Theorem Theorems in measure theory Probabilistic inequalities