Distributions – How to Determine the Limiting Distribution of Uniform Order Statistic

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I have a random sample of size $n$ from a uniform distribution

$$U(0, \theta)$$

And I've proven that the pdf of $Y_n$, the n-th order statistic of the sample is:

$$
f_{Y_n}(y) = \frac{n}{\theta^n} y^{n-1} \quad \quad, 0<y<\theta ,
$$$$
f_{Y_n}(y) = 0 \quad \quad \quad \quad ,\text{elsewhere}
$$

Now, what I'm trying to do next is calculating the limiting distribution of $Y_n$, and I'm not sure how to do that.

Am I supposed to calculate the limit of the pdf as $ n \rightarrow \infty $ ? or the cdf?

Any help regarding the steps I need to do is appreciated!

Best Answer

If you look at the cdf of $Y_n$, $$F_n(\delta)=\mathbb{P}(Y_n\le\delta)=(\delta/\theta)^n\qquad0\le\delta\le\theta\,,$$ you get that $F_n(\delta)$ converges to zero when $0\le\delta<\theta$, which means that $Y_n$ converges in probability to $\theta$: $$Y_n\stackrel{\text{prob}}{\longrightarrow} \theta\,.$$ This implies that $Y_n$ also converges in distribution to the constant value random variable $\theta$: $$Y_n\stackrel{\text{dist}}{\longrightarrow} \theta\,.$$ To get a more precise description of the asymptotic behaviour of $Y_n$, you need to zoom around $\theta$, i.e., to consider $(\theta-Y_n)$ scaled by a power of $n$, $n^\alpha$, so that, while $(\theta-Y_n)$ converges to zero in distribution and $n^\alpha$ goes to infinity, the product $$n^\alpha(\theta-Y_n)$$ converges to a standard distribution (in distribution).

This is e.g. the case for the Central Limit theorem: if the mean of $X$ is well-defined, $\bar{X}_n-\mathbb{E}[X]$ converges to zero in distribution, while $$\sqrt{n}(\bar{X}_n-\mathbb{E}[X])=n^{1/2}(\bar{X}_n-\mathbb{E}[X])$$ converges to a Normal distribution (in distribution).

To answer your question you thus have to find the right scale $n^\alpha$ (there is only one!) and then deduce the associated limiting distribution. Hint: Remember that $$\lim_{n\to\infty} \left\{1-\frac{\beta}{n} \right\}^n = \exp\{-\beta\}\,.$$