Probability – Difference Between Expectation in Measure Theory and Regular Calculus

expectationprobabilityprobability theory

let X be a random variable with a density function $f_{X}(x)$. The expectation of X is defined as

$E[X] = \int x f_{X}(x) dx$

While in the probability books that uses the measure theory it is defined as

$E[X] = \int X dP$

how are these two definitions related? and if I have another random variable Y is its expectation defined in a similar manner, i.e., :

$E[Y] = \int Y dP$

if yes, how can I know that I am integrating with respect to r.v X or Y ?

any help is appreciated

Best Answer

Let $(\Omega,\mathcal{A},P)$ be a probabilty space, $(\mathbb{R},\mathcal{B})$ a measurable space and $X\colon \Omega\to\mathbb{R}$ a random variable. The expected value of $X$ is defined as the Lebesgue integral \begin{align} \mathbb{E}_P(X):=\int_{\Omega}X\,\mathrm{d}P \end{align} and by the change of variables formula it holds \begin{align} \int_{\Omega}X\,\mathrm{d}P=\int_{\mathbb{R}}x\,\mathrm{d}P_{X} \end{align} where $P_X:=P\circ X^{-1}$ is the distribution (push forward, image measure, $\ldots$) of $X$ with respect to $P$. If $X$ has a probabilty density function $f=\frac{\mathrm{d}P_X}{\mathrm{d}\lambda}$, we can write \begin{align} \int_{\mathbb{R}}x\,\mathrm{d}P_{X}=\int_{\mathbb{R}}x\cdot f(x)\;\mathrm{d}\lambda(x) \end{align}