Infinitely often and almost always: Difference between revisions
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<math>\liminf_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x| = \sup_{N \geq 1} \inf_{n \geq N} |a_n - x| \leq \epsilon</math> -- I think this one is equivalent to infinitely often, which is confusing since now the quantifier order has seemingly switched. | <math>\liminf_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x| = \sup_{N \geq 1} \inf_{n \geq N} |a_n - x| \leq \epsilon</math> -- I think this one is equivalent to infinitely often, which is confusing since now the quantifier order has seemingly switched. | ||
but this makes sense in terms of strength of "infinitely often" vs "almost always". We have <math>\liminf_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x| \leq \limsup_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x|</math>, so if <math>\limsup_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x| \leq \epsilon</math> (i.e. <math> | but this makes sense in terms of strength of "infinitely often" vs "almost always". We have <math>\liminf_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x| \leq \limsup_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x|</math>, so if <math>\limsup_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x| \leq \epsilon</math> (i.e. <math>a_n</math> is <math>\epsilon</math>-close to <math>x</math> almost always) then <math>\liminf_{n\to\infty} |a_n-x| \leq \epsilon</math> (i.e. <math>a_n</math> is <math>\epsilon</math>-close to <math>x</math> infinitely often). | ||
[[Category:Probability]] | [[Category:Probability]] | ||
Revision as of 22:31, 31 July 2019
Let be a sequence of events in some sample space . Let be an outcome.
In the following table, all statements in the "infinitely often" column are logically equivalent. Similarly, all statements in the "almost always" column are logically equivalent.
| perspective | infinitely often | almost always |
|---|---|---|
| unions and intersections | ||
| first-order quantifiers | ||
| verbal expression | for infinitely many | for almost all , i.e. for all but finitely many , i.e. for finitely many |
| lim sup/lim inf | ||
| limit of sup/inf |
Analogy with sequences of real numbers
Let be a sequence of real numbers, let be a real number, and let be a real number.
We say is eventually -close to iff there exists some such that for all we have .
We say that is continually -adherent iff for every there exists some such that .
I think we can even define .
-- I think this one is equivalent to infinitely often, which is confusing since now the quantifier order has seemingly switched.
but this makes sense in terms of strength of "infinitely often" vs "almost always". We have , so if (i.e. is -close to almost always) then (i.e. is -close to infinitely often).