(a) Let (X,F,ν) be a probability space. State the definition of the space L2(X,F,ν). Show that it is a Hilbert space.
(b) Give an example of two real random variables Z1,Z2 that are not independent and yet have the same law.
(c) Let Z1,…,Zn be n random variables distributed uniformly on [0,1]. Let λ be the Lebesgue measure on the interval [0,1], and let B be the Borel σ-algebra. Consider the expression
D(f):=Var[n1(f(Z1)+…+f(Zn))−∫[0,1]fdλ]
where Var denotes the variance and f∈L2([0,1],B,λ).
Assume that Z1,…,Zn are pairwise independent. Compute D(f) in terms of the variance Var(f):=Var(f(Z1)).
(d) Now we no longer assume that Z1,…,Zn are pairwise independent. Show that
supD(f)⩾n1,
where the supremum ranges over functions f∈L2([0,1],B,λ) such that ∥f∥2=1 and ∫[0,1]fdλ=0.
[Hint: you may wish to compute D(fp,q) for the family of functions fp,q=2k(1Ip−1Iq) where 1⩽p,q⩽k,Ij=[kj,kj+1) and 1A denotes the indicator function of the subset A.]