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A Functional Equation Whose Unknown is P([0,1]) Valued

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Abstract

We study a functional equation whose unknown maps a Euclidean space into the space of probability distributions on [0,1]. We prove existence and uniqueness of its solution under suitable regularity and boundary conditions, we show that it depends continuously on the boundary datum, and we characterize solutions that are diffuse on [0,1]. A canonical solution is obtained by means of a Randomly Reinforced Urn with different reinforcement distributions having equal means. The general solution to the functional equation defines a new parametric collection of distributions on [0,1] generalizing the Beta family.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1207-1232
Number of pages26
JournalJournal of Theoretical Probability
Volume25
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2012

Keywords

  • Functional equation in unknown distribution functions
  • Generalized Pólya urn
  • Reinforced urn process

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