Khinchin's Law
Theorem
Let $P$ be a population.
Let $P$ have mean $\mu$ and finite variance.
Let $\sequence {X_n}_{n \mathop \ge 1}$ be a sequence of random variables forming a random sample from $P$.
Let:
- $\ds {\overline X}_n = \frac 1 n \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^n X_i$
Then:
- ${\overline X}_n \xrightarrow p \mu$
where $\xrightarrow p$ denotes convergence in probability.
Proof
Let $\sigma$ be the standard deviation of $P$.
By the definition of convergence in probability, we aim to show that:
- $\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \map \Pr {\size { {\overline X}_n - \mu} < \epsilon} = 1$
for all real $\epsilon > 0$.
Let $\epsilon > 0$ be a real number.
- $\var {{\overline X}_n} = \dfrac {\sigma^2} n$
By the Bienaymé-Chebyshev Inequality, we have for real $k > 0$:
- $\map \Pr {\size { {\overline X}_n - \mu} \ge \dfrac {k \sigma} {\sqrt n}} \le \dfrac 1 {k^2}$
As $\sigma > 0$ and $n > 0$, we can set:
- $k = \dfrac {\sqrt n} {\sigma} \epsilon$
This gives:
- $\map \Pr {\size {{\overline X}_n - \mu} \ge \epsilon} \le \dfrac {\sigma^2} {n \epsilon^2}$
We therefore have:
| \(\ds \map \Pr {\size { {\overline X}_n - \mu} < \epsilon}\) | \(=\) | \(\ds 1 - \map \Pr {\size { {\overline X}_n - \mu} \ge \epsilon}\) | ||||||||||||
| \(\ds \) | \(\ge\) | \(\ds 1 - \frac {\sigma^2} {n \epsilon^2}\) |
So:
- $1 - \dfrac {\sigma^2} {n \epsilon^2} \le \map \Pr {\size { {\overline X}_n - \mu} < \epsilon} \le 1$
We have:
- $\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \paren {1 - \dfrac {\sigma^2} {n \epsilon^2} } = 1$
and:
- $\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} 1 = 1$
So by the Squeeze Theorem:
- $\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \map \Pr {\size { {\overline X}_n - \mu} < \epsilon} = 1$
for all real $\epsilon > 0$.
$\blacksquare$
Also known as
Khinchin's Law is also known as the Weak Law of Large Numbers.
Also see
- Bernoulli's Theorem, also known as the Law of Large Numbers
- Kolmogorov's Law, also known as the Strong Law of Large Numbers
Source of Name
This entry was named for Aleksandr Yakovlevich Khinchin.
Sources
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): laws of large numbers
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): weak law of large numbers
- 2021: Richard Earl and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (6th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): weak law of large numbers