ECE 520.

651 Random Signal Analysis

Homework # 1
Due 9:00 AM on Thursday, September 10, 2015.
Submit your solutions to the following problems:
1. Rosss Paradox: Consider an infinite number of balls labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . , an empty
urn that can hold an infinite number of balls, and the following two experiments.
Exp #1. At time t = 0, balls 1, 2, . . . , 10 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 1 is
removed.
At time t = 21 , balls 11, 12, . . . , 20 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 2 is
removed.
At time t = 43 , balls 21, 22, . . . , 30 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 3 is
removed.
At time t = 87 , balls 31, 32, . . . , 40 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 4 is
removed,
and so on. Assume that the addition and removal of balls takes zero time.
Is the urn empty at t = 1? Note: For every n, the ball labeled n is removed at
some time t < 1.
Exp #2. At time t = 0, balls 1, 2, . . . , 9 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 1 is
relabeled 10.
At time t = 21 , balls 11, 12, . . . , 19 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 2 is
relabeled 20.
At time t = 43 , balls 21, 22, . . . , 29 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 3 is
relabeled 30.
At time t = 87 , balls 31, 32, . . . , 39 are added to the urn, and the ball labeled 4 is
relabeled 40,
and so on. Assume that the addition and relabeling of balls takes zero time.
Is the urn empty at t = 1?
Reflect on the two experiments and write down your thoughts in 50-200 words. Be
cogent and precise in your prose.
2. Interpretation of evidence: An event B is said to corroborate of an event A, and
+
denoted B A, if P (A|B) > P (A). Prove, or disprove by counterexample, the
following rules of interpretation for corroborative evidence.
1

(a) Symmetry:

BA

(b) Transitivity:
(c) Reinforcement:

A B.
+

C B and B A
+

B A and C A

C A.

B C A.

You may assume that all necessary conditioning events have nonzero probability.
3. Basic Set Operations: Problem 1.8 from Stark and Woods.
4. Generated -fields: Let = (0, 1], and enumeratethe elements of (G), the smallest
-field that contains the collection of subsets G = ( 13 , 21 ], ( 12 , 1] .
5. Constructing Event Spaces: Let = {1, 2, . . .} be the set of natural numbers, and
consider the following three subsets of .
A = { : is a prime number};
B = { : is an even number};
C = { : is a power of 2}.
For the purposes of this problem, let 1 6 A and also let 1 6 C.
(a) If G1 = {A, B}, determine (G1 ).
(b) If G2 = {A, C}, determine (G2 ).
(c) Is either (G2 ) (G1 ) or (G1 ) (G2 )?
The following exercises are for self study and group discussion:
1. Read pages 1-32 from the Papamarcou notes. Discuss with your study group (or the
CA) any concept or proof that seems unclear with you.
2. After finishing Problem 1 above, you may discuss Rosss paradox with each other.