An integral inequality for Gaussian sequential decision making

Let N=2N=2 and suppose the conditional densities of the observation YY given hypotheses H=0H=0 and H=1H=1 are

fYH(y0)=12πσ2exp(y22σ2),f_{Y\mid H}(y\mid 0)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi\sigma^2}}\exp\left(-\frac{y^2}{2\sigma^2}\right), fYH(y1)=12πσ2exp((yh1)22σ2),f_{Y\mid H}(y\mid 1)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi\sigma^2}}\exp\left(-\frac{(y-h_1)^2}{2\sigma^2}\right),

where σ\sigma and h1h_1 are arbitrary positive numbers, and let λ\lambda be a real number. The Gaussian integral inequality. If λ<h12\lambda<\frac{h_1}{2}, then

λexp(y22+λh1)dyλexp(y22+λh1)dy<λexp(y22+yh1)dyλexp(y22+yh1)dy.\int_{-\infty}^{\lambda}\exp\left(-\frac{y^2}{2}+\lambda h_1\right)\,dy\int_{\lambda}^{\infty}\exp\left(-\frac{y^2}{2}+\lambda h_1\right)\,dy < \int_{-\infty}^{\lambda}\exp\left(-\frac{y^2}{2}+y h_1\right)\,dy\int_{\lambda}^{\infty}\exp\left(-\frac{y^2}{2}+y h_1\right)\,dy.

This inequality is used in the analysis of the prior belief that minimizes the second agent's Bayes risk in a two-agent sequential decision problem with additive Gaussian observation noise. The surrounding discussion indicates that optimal prior beliefs can differ from the true prior probability, but the supplied text does not establish whether this asserted inequality is proved or remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Joong Bum Rhim and Vivek K Goyal, “Social Teaching: Being Informative vs. Being Right in Sequential Decision Making”, arXiv:1212.6592 (2012).

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