Limit Theorems In Probability Statistics And Number Theory

​Limit theorems and asymptotic results form a central topic in probability theory and mathematical statistics. New and non-classical limit theorems have been discovered for processes in random environments, especially in connection with random matrix theory and free probability. These questions and the techniques for answering them combine asymptotic enumerative combinatorics, particle systems and approximation theory, and are important for new approaches in geometric and metric number theory as well. Thus, the contributions in this book include a wide range of applications with surprising connections ranging from longest common subsequences for words, permutation groups, random matrices and free probability to entropy problems and metric number theory. The book is the product of a conference that took place in August 2011 in Bielefeld, Germany to celebrate the 60th birthday of Friedrich Götze, a noted expert in this field.

A collection of research level surveys on certain topics in probability theory by a well-known group of researchers. The book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers.

About the First Edition: The study of any topic becomes more meaningful if one also studies the historical development that resulted in the final theorem. ... This is an excellent book on mathematics in the making. --Philip Peak, The Mathematics Teacher, May, 1975 I find the book very interesting. It contains valuable information and useful references. It can be recommended not only to historians of science and mathematics but also to students of probability and statistics. --Wei-Ching Chang, Historica Mathematica, August, 1976 In the months since I wrote ... I have read it from cover to cover at least once and perused it here and there a number of times. I still find it a very interesting and worthwhile contribution to the history of probability and statistics. --Churchill Eisenhart, past president of the American Statistical Association, in a letter to the author, February 3, 1975 The name Central Limit Theorem covers a wide variety of results involving the determination of necessary and sufficient conditions under which sums of independent random variables, suitably standardized, have cumulative distribution functions close to the Gaussian distribution. As the name Central Limit Theorem suggests, it is a centerpiece of probability theory which also carries over to statistics. Part One of The Life and Times of the Central Limit Theorem, Second Edition traces its fascinating history from seeds sown by Jacob Bernoulli to use of integrals of $\exp (x^2)$ as an approximation tool, the development of the theory of errors of observation, problems in mathematical astronomy, the emergence of the hypothesis of elementary errors, the fundamental work of Laplace, and the emergence of an abstract Central Limit Theorem through the work of Chebyshev, Markov and Lyapunov. This closes the classical period of the life of the Central Limit Theorem, 1713-1901. The second part of the book includes papers by Feller and Le Cam, as well as comments by Doob, Trotter, and Pollard, describing the modern history of the Central Limit Theorem (1920-1937), in particular through contributions of Lindeberg, Cramer, Levy, and Feller. The Appendix to the book contains four fundamental papers by Lyapunov on the Central Limit Theorem, made available in English for the first time.

Everyone knows some of the basics of probability, perhaps enough to play cards. Beyond the introductory ideas, there are many wonderful results that are unfamiliar to the layman, but which are well within our grasp to understand and appreciate. Some of the most remarkable results in probability are those that are related to limit theorems--statements about what happens when the trial is repeated many times. The most famous of these is the Law of Large Numbers, which mathematicians,engineers, economists, and many others use every day. In this book, Lesigne has made these limit theorems accessible by stating everything in terms of a game of tossing of a coin: heads or tails. In this way, the analysis becomes much clearer, helping establish the reader's intuition aboutprobability. Moreover, very little generality is lost, as many situations can be modelled from combinations of coin tosses. This book is suitable for anyone who would like to learn more about mathematical probability and has had a one-year undergraduate course in analysis.

A discussion of some topics in the theory of large deviations such as moment-generating functions and Chernoff's theorem, and of aspects of estimation and testing in large samples, such as exact slopes of test statistics.

This study discusses the history of the central limit theorem and related probabilistic limit theorems from about 1810 through 1950. In this context the book also describes the historical development of analytical probability theory and its tools, such as characteristic functions or moments. The central limit theorem was originally deduced by Laplace as a statement about approximations for the distributions of sums of independent random variables within the framework of classical probability, which focused upon specific problems and applications. Making this theorem an autonomous mathematical object was very important for the development of modern probability theory.