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Exercise 1.27 (Scheffé's lemma)

Let X1,X2,… be a sequence of absolutely integrable scalar random variables that converge almost surely to another absolutely integrable scalar random variable X. Suppose also that E|Xn| converges to E|X| as n →∞. Show that E|X − Xn| converges to zero as n →∞.

Answers

The trick to proving this assertion is to recall a famous identity

|Xn − X| = Xn + X − 2min ⁡ {Xn,X }

which we will verify at the end of this proof. Put integrals at the both sides of the equation and take limits as n →∞. We obtain, by linearity of expectation and limits, that

lim ⁡ n→∞𝔼 ⁡ |Xn − X| = lim ⁡ n→∞𝔼 ⁡ Xn + lim ⁡ n→∞𝔼 ⁡ X − 2lim ⁡ n→∞𝔼 ⁡ min ⁡ {Xn,X} (1) = X + X − 2𝔼 lim ⁡ n→∞min ⁡ {Xn,X} (2) = 0 (3)

as desired.

We now verify the identity in the beginning of the proof.

  • Xn(ω) ≤ X(ω), in which case

    |Xn(ω) − X(ω)| = X(ω) − Xn(ω) = Xn(ω) + X(ω) − 2Xn(ω).

  • Similarly, if Xn(ω) > X(ω), we have

    |Xn(ω) − X(ω)| = Xn(ω) − X(ω) = Xn(ω) + X(ω) − 2X(ω).

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2021-09-03 00:00
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