Evaluate $\lim_{\mu \to \infty} \int_{\frac{\mu}{2}}^\infty \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}e^{-\frac{(t-\mu)^2}{2}}dt$

calculusimproper-integralsintegrationlimitsprobability

As in the title, the problem is to evaluate the integral
\begin{equation}
\lim_{\mu\to\infty}\int_{\frac{\mu}{2}}^\infty \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}e^{-\frac{(t-\mu)^2}{2}}dt. \label{integral}
\end{equation}

If one examines this graphically, then it appears that the integral should equate to 1 (see picture below).
enter image description here
An accompanying intuitive argument is to note that the integrand is the density function of an $N(\mu,1)$ random variable, and at the limit, the distance between $\mu$ and $\mu/2$ approaches $\infty$. Since standard deviation is fixed, we should approach the situation where the area of the tail left of $\mu/2$ goes to zero, and hence the integral goes to 1.

However, when one examines the integral analytically, it's quite odd since a (naive) interpretation of the limit suggests that we are evaluating an improper integral of the form $\int_{\infty}^\infty \dots dt$, which I have not seen before.

Therefore:

1) Does this integral actually equal 1?

2) Can this be shown from the given expression?

Best Answer

If $X$ is normal with mean $0$ and variance $1$ then the integral equals $P\{X+\mu >\mu /2\}=P\{X >-\mu /2\} \to 1$ as $\mu \to \infty$.