Proving probability inequality

Lily@pie
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Homework Statement



Prove the following
a>0, X is a non-negative function

Ʃ_{n\in N} P(X>an)≥\frac{1}{a}(E[X]-a)

Ʃ_{n\in N} P(X>an)≤\frac{E[X]}{a}

The Attempt at a Solution



I know that
\sum_{n\in N} P(X>an)=\sum_{k \in N} kP((k+1)a≥X>ka)=\sum_{k \in N} E[k1_{[(k+1)a,ka)}(X)]
where 1_{[(k+1)a,ka)} is the indicator function.

I'm not sure how to preceed from here.

All I know is that for all ε>0, E[ε1_{[ε,∞)}(X)]≤E[X]
 
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The second is not true. Is there a factor 1/a missing on the right?
 
haruspex said:
The second is not true. Is there a factor 1/a missing on the right?

Sorry, my bad... I've edited it...
 
You can eliminate a by defining Y = X/a. Does that help?
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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