Normal approximation for isolated balls in an urn allocation model

dc.creatorPenrose, Mathew D.
dc.date2009-01-22
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:32:59Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:32:59Z
dc.descriptionConsider throwing $n$ balls at random into $m$ urns, each ball landing in urn $i$ with probability $p_i$. Let $S$ be the resulting number of singletons, i.e., urns containing just one ball. We give an error bound for the Kolmogorov distance from $S$ to the normal, and estimates on its variance. These show that if $n$, $m$ and $(p_i, 1 \leq i \leq m)$ vary in such a way that $\sup_i p_i = O(n^{-1})$, then $S$ satisfies a CLT if and only if $n^2 \sum_i p_i^2$ tends to infinity, and demonstrate an optimal rate of convergence in the CLT in this case. In the uniform case $(p_i \equiv m^{-1}) with $m$ and $n$ growing proportionately, we provide bounds with better asymptotic constants. The proof of the error bounds are based on Stein's method via size-biased couplings.
dc.description32 Pages
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0901.3493
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0901.3493
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/216973
dc.subjectProbability
dc.subject60F05; 62E17
dc.titleNormal approximation for isolated balls in an urn allocation model
dc.typetext

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