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arxiv: 1305.5568 · v1 · pith:VHKVXIACnew · submitted 2013-05-23 · 🧮 math.PR

The maximum of a symmetric next neighbor walk on the non-negative integers

classification 🧮 math.PR
keywords dimensionaldistributionmax1one-dimensionalstepssymmetricwalkable
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We consider a one-dimensional discrete symmetric random walk with a reflecting boundary at the origin. Generating functions are found for the 2- dimensional probability distribution P{Sn = x,max1?j?n Sn = a} of being at position x after n steps, while the maximal location that the walker has achieved during these n steps is a. We also obtain the familiar (marginal) 1-dimensional distribution for Sn = x, but more importantly that for max1?j?n Sj = a asymptotically at fixed a2/n. We are able to compute and compare the expectations and variances of the two one-dimensional distributions, finding that they have qualitatively similar forms, but differ quantitatively in the anticipated fashion.

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