Eugenio Clerico , Hamish E. Flynn , Patrick Rebeschini
{"title":"单调过程的一致均值估计","authors":"Eugenio Clerico , Hamish E. Flynn , Patrick Rebeschini","doi":"10.1016/j.spl.2025.110558","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We consider the problem of deriving uniform confidence bands for the mean of a monotonic stochastic process, such as the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random variable, based on a sequence of i.i.d. observations. Our approach leverages the coin-betting framework, and inherits several favourable characteristics of coin-betting methods. In particular, for each point in the domain of the mean function, we obtain anytime-valid confidence intervals that are numerically tight and adapt to the variance of the observations. To derive uniform confidence bands, we employ a continuous union bound that crucially leverages monotonicity. In the case of CDF estimation, we also exploit the fact that the empirical CDF is piece-wise constant to obtain simple confidence bands that can be easily computed. In simulations, we find that our confidence bands for the CDF achieve state-of-the-art performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49475,"journal":{"name":"Statistics & Probability Letters","volume":"228 ","pages":"Article 110558"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Uniform mean estimation for monotonic processes\",\"authors\":\"Eugenio Clerico , Hamish E. Flynn , Patrick Rebeschini\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.spl.2025.110558\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>We consider the problem of deriving uniform confidence bands for the mean of a monotonic stochastic process, such as the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random variable, based on a sequence of i.i.d. observations. Our approach leverages the coin-betting framework, and inherits several favourable characteristics of coin-betting methods. In particular, for each point in the domain of the mean function, we obtain anytime-valid confidence intervals that are numerically tight and adapt to the variance of the observations. To derive uniform confidence bands, we employ a continuous union bound that crucially leverages monotonicity. In the case of CDF estimation, we also exploit the fact that the empirical CDF is piece-wise constant to obtain simple confidence bands that can be easily computed. In simulations, we find that our confidence bands for the CDF achieve state-of-the-art performance.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":49475,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Statistics & Probability Letters\",\"volume\":\"228 \",\"pages\":\"Article 110558\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-09-24\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Statistics & Probability Letters\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"100\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167715225002032\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"数学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q3\",\"JCRName\":\"STATISTICS & PROBABILITY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Statistics & Probability Letters","FirstCategoryId":"100","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167715225002032","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"数学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"STATISTICS & PROBABILITY","Score":null,"Total":0}
We consider the problem of deriving uniform confidence bands for the mean of a monotonic stochastic process, such as the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random variable, based on a sequence of i.i.d. observations. Our approach leverages the coin-betting framework, and inherits several favourable characteristics of coin-betting methods. In particular, for each point in the domain of the mean function, we obtain anytime-valid confidence intervals that are numerically tight and adapt to the variance of the observations. To derive uniform confidence bands, we employ a continuous union bound that crucially leverages monotonicity. In the case of CDF estimation, we also exploit the fact that the empirical CDF is piece-wise constant to obtain simple confidence bands that can be easily computed. In simulations, we find that our confidence bands for the CDF achieve state-of-the-art performance.
期刊介绍:
Statistics & Probability Letters adopts a novel and highly innovative approach to the publication of research findings in statistics and probability. It features concise articles, rapid publication and broad coverage of the statistics and probability literature.
Statistics & Probability Letters is a refereed journal. Articles will be limited to six journal pages (13 double-space typed pages) including references and figures. Apart from the six-page limitation, originality, quality and clarity will be the criteria for choosing the material to be published in Statistics & Probability Letters. Every attempt will be made to provide the first review of a submitted manuscript within three months of submission.
The proliferation of literature and long publication delays have made it difficult for researchers and practitioners to keep up with new developments outside of, or even within, their specialization. The aim of Statistics & Probability Letters is to help to alleviate this problem. Concise communications (letters) allow readers to quickly and easily digest large amounts of material and to stay up-to-date with developments in all areas of statistics and probability.
The mainstream of Letters will focus on new statistical methods, theoretical results, and innovative applications of statistics and probability to other scientific disciplines. Key results and central ideas must be presented in a clear and concise manner. These results may be part of a larger study that the author will submit at a later time as a full length paper to SPL or to another journal. Theory and methodology may be published with proofs omitted, or only sketched, but only if sufficient support material is provided so that the findings can be verified. Empirical and computational results that are of significant value will be published.