Created: 2026-03-06 07:53:04
Updated: 2026-03-06 07:53:04

6.1 The Horse Rase

设赛马中有m匹马,第ii只马赢的概率pip_{i},如果它赢了,那么payoff就是oi:1o_{i}:1的。意思是,每投资这匹马1元,这匹马胜利时就能获得oio_{i}元,否则获得0元。
有两种方式描述赔率:a for 1和b to 1。

赌徒可以重复投资,因此他的财富是每次赌注结果之积。令SnS_{n}nn场比赛之后赌徒的财富,于是

Sn=i=1nS(Xi)S_{n} = \prod_{i=1}^n S(X_{i})

where S(X)=b(X)o(X)S(X)=b(X)o(X) is the factor by which the gambler's wealth is multiplied when horse XX wins.

[!theorem] 定义(doubling rate):
一场赛马的doubling rate定义为
$$
W(\mathbf{b},\mathbf{p}) = E(\log S(X)) = \sum_{k=1}^m p_{k} \log b_{k}o_{k}
$$

The definition of doubling rate is justified by the following theorem:

[!theorem] Theorem 6.1.1
令赛马结果X1,X2,,XnX_{1},X_{2},\dots,X_{n} 是服从p(x)p(x)的独立同分布的变量,那么赌徒使用策略b\mathbf{b}时的财富以 doubling rate W(b,p)W(\mathbf{b},\mathbf{p})指数增长,即
$$
S(n) \doteq 2^{nW(\mathbf{b},\mathbf{p})}
$$

[!Proof] Proof
Functions of independent random variables are also independent, and hence log(S(X1)),log(S(X2)),\log(S(X_{1})),\log(S(X_{2})),\dots are i.i.d. , then
$$
\frac{1}{n} \log S_{n} = \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=1}^n \log S(X_{i}) \to E(\log S(X))\qquad \text{in probability}

thusthus

S_{n} \doteq 2^{nW(\mathbf{b},\mathbf{p})}

$$

定义Maximum doubling rate是所有策略中最大的那个:

W(p)=maxbW(b,p)=maxb:bi0,ibi=1i=1mpilogbioiW^* (\mathbf{p}) = \max _{\mathbf{b}}W(\mathbf{b},\mathbf{p}) = \max _{\mathbf{b}:b_{i}\geq 0,\sum_{i}b_{i}= 1} \sum_{i=1}^m p_{i} \log b_{i} o_{i}

使用拉格朗日乘子法。

J(b)=pilogbioi+λbiJ(\mathbf{b} ) = \sum p_{i}\log b_{i} o_{i} + \lambda \sum b_{i}

bib_{i}求偏导等于0,得到bi=piλb_{i} = -\frac{p_{i}}{\lambda},进而得到λ=1,bi=pi\lambda = -1,b_{i}=p_{i}
于是进一步得到max doubling rate为:

[!theorem] Theorem 6.1.2
最优的doubling rate由下式给出:
$$
W^(\mathbf{p}) = \sum_{i}p_{i}\log o_{i} -H(\mathbf{p})
$$
在$\mathbf{b}^
=\mathbf{p}$时取得

于是,我们说明了在赌徒可以重新投资,且不保留财富为现金的情形下,最优的策略是proportional betting.

We now consider a special case when the odds are fair with respect to some distribution, i.e. there is no track take and i1oi=1\sum_{i} \frac{1}{o_{i}} = 1.
ri=1oir_{i} = \frac{1}{o_{i}},则rir_{i}也可以看作马编号上的一个概率分布(也叫bookie's estimate)。
于是doubling rate重写成

W(b,p)=D(pr)D(pb)W(\mathbf{b},\mathbf{p}) = D(\mathbf{p}\mid \mid \mathbf{r}) - D(\mathbf{p}\mid\mid \mathbf{b})

对于一个更特殊的情形,所有赔率均为m-for-1,此时

W(p)=D(p1m)=logmH(p)W^* (\mathbf{p}) = D\left( \mathbf{p}\mid\mid \frac{1}{m} \right) = \log m - H(\mathbf{ p})

从此例中,我们可清晰地看到数据压缩和doubling rate的对偶性:

[!theorem] Theorem 6.1.3(Conservation theorem):
对于均一公平的赔率,有
$$
W^*(\mathbf{p}) + H(\mathbf{p}) = \log m
$$

假设赌徒可以保留一部分钱。令b(0)b(0)是保留的钱比例,其他的b(1)b(m)b(1)\dots b(m)均为投入到各个编号的马上的钱比例。于是比赛结束前后财富的比例系数为

S(X)=b(0)+b(X)o(X)S(X) = b(0)+b(X) o(X)

考虑三种子情形:

  1. 公平赔率:i1oi=1\sum_{i} \frac{1}{o_{i}}= 1.此时保留现金的选项不影响分析.这是因为我们可以通过取bi=1oib_{i} = \frac{1}{o_{i}}的投注来实现保留现金。因为无论哪个马赢了,均有S(X)=1S(X)=1。此时按比例投注依然是最优的。
  2. Superfair odds(超公平赔率): i1oi<1\sum_{i} \frac{1}{o_{i}} < 1。此时赔率情形比第一种还要好,所以参与者期望将现金全部投入,此时最优解依然是proportional betting.不过,我们而可以选择b=1oi\mathbf{b} = \frac{1}{o_{i}}使得它形成一个"Dutch book"(In a Dutch book, an opponent can choose a portfolio of bets such that he is assured of winning money),得到oibi=1o_{i}b_{i} =1,无论哪匹马赢了。在这种分配下,1i1oi1-\sum_{i}\frac{1}{o_{i}}被保留,使得在比赛结束后,必然能得到1+(1i1oi)>11+ (1-\sum_{i} \frac{1}{o_{i}}) > 1比例的现金。尽管这种方法没有风险,但这并不是doubling rate最高的策略。
  3. Subfair odds: i1oi>1\sum_{i} \frac{1}{o_{i}}>1,这是最符合实际的情形。庄家要在每次比赛的赌注中抽一些分成。这时,通常会保留一些资产,只将部分钱投入。按比例全部投入的策略不再是log-optimal的

6.2 Gambling and Side Information

假设赌徒有一些关于比赛结果的信息。例如,赌徒可能知道一些之前场次的比赛结果。那么这些信息有多大价值呢?
可以通过财富增长的比例系数的变大 来衡量这种类型信息的价值。现在我们来看看共同信息和doubling rate之间的关系。
X={1,2,,m}X=\{1,2,\dots,m\}为比赛结果,概率p(x)p(x),赔率o(x)o(x)对1,令(X,Y)(X,Y)的联合分布为p(x,y)p(x,y),令已知y条件下的决策b(xy)0,xb(xy)=1b(x\mid y)\geq 0,\sum_{x}b(x\mid y)=1b(xy)b(x\mid y)就是当观察到y时该策略在x号马上压下的赌注。y未知时的决策记为b(x)b(x),且b(x)0,xb(x)=1b(x)\geq 0,\sum_{x}b(x)=1
令unconditional 和conditional doubling rates为:

W(X)=maxb(x)xp(x)logb(x)o(x)W(X,Y)=maxb(xy)x,yp(x,y)logb(xy)o(x)\begin{align} W^*(X) = \max _{\mathbf{b}(x)} \sum_{x}p(x)\log b(x)o(x) \\ W^*(X,\mid Y) = \max _{\mathbf{b}(x\mid y)} \sum_{x,y}p(x,y) \log b(x\mid y)o(x) \end{align}

[!theorem] Theorem 6.2.1

ΔW=W(XY)W(X)\Delta W = W^*(X\mid Y)-W^*(X)

[!Proof] Proof
$$
\begin{align}
W^(X\mid Y) &= \max {b} \sum{x,y} p(y) (D( p(x\mid y)\mid\mid o(x)) - D(p(x\mid y) \mid\mid b(x\mid y))) = \sum_{y} p(y) D(p(x\mid y)\mid\mid o(x)) \
W^
(X)& = D(p(x)\mid\mid o(x)) \
W^(X\mid Y)- W^(X) &= \sum_{x,y} p(x,y) \log \frac{p(x,y)}{p(x)p(y)} = I(X;Y)
\end{align}
$$
;

6.3 Dependent Horse Races and Entropy Rate

赛马中最常见的side info就是这些马过去的表现了。如果每次赛马是独立的,那么该信息无用。如果我们假设每场比赛之间存在关联,那么我们可以根据过去的表现计算下一场的策略,从而得到有效的doubling rate
假设{Xk}\{X_{k}\}序列构成随机过程,令每场比赛的策略取决于之前比赛的结果。那么在这种情况下,最佳doubling rate是(假设赔率均为uniform fair的,也就是m赔1)

W(XkXk1,,X1)=E[maxb(Xk1,,X1)E[logS(XkXk1,,X1)]]=logmH(XkXk1,,X1)\begin{align} W^*(X_{k}\mid X_{k-1},\dots,X_{1}) &= E\left[ \max _{b(\cdot\mid X_{k-1},\dots,X_{1})} E[\log S(X_{k}\mid X_{k-1},\dots,X_{1})]\right] \\ & = \log m - H(X_{k}\mid X_{k-1},\dots,X_{1}) \end{align}

这在b(xkxk1,,x1)=p(xkxk1,,x1)b^*(x_{k}\mid x_{k-1},\dots,x_{1}) = p(x_{k}\mid x_{k-1},\dots,x_{1})达到极大。
n场比赛后,赌徒的财富为

Sn=i=1nS(Xi)S_{n} = \prod_{i=1}^n S(X_{i})

增长率指数为(假设m for 1)

1nElogSn=ElogS(Xi)=1n(logmH(XiXi1,,X1))=logmH(X1,X2,,Xn)n\begin{align} \frac{1}{n} E \log S_{n} & = \sum E \log S(X_{i}) \\ & = \frac{1}{n} \sum (\log m - H(X_{i}\mid X_{i-1},\dots,X_{1})) \\ & = \log m - \frac{H(X_{1},X_{2},\dots,X_{n})}{n} \end{align}

对于有熵率H(H)H(\mathscr{H})的定态过程,上式极限给出limn1nElogSn+H(H)=logm\lim_{ n \to \infty } \frac{1}{n}E \log S_{n} +H(\mathscr{H}) = \log m

对于ergodic process,Sn2nWS_{n}\doteq 2^{nW} with probability 1
![[第四章 Entropy Rates of Markov Process#^4a9bc6]]

其中W=logmH(H)W = \log m - H(\mathscr{H})

6.5 Data Compression and Gambling

下面将证明,赌博和数据压缩具有直接的联系。一个好的赌徒也是一个好的数据压缩器。
这种想法是基于如下事实:赌徒会准确预测概率分布并基于这种估计下注。令X1,,XnX_{1},\dots,X_{n}是一系列我们想压缩的随机变量。不失一般性,我们假设这些变量都是0-1取值的。在这个序列上赌博被定义为做决策(赌注):

b(xk+1x1,x2,,xn)0,xk+1b(xk+1x1,x2,,xk)=1b(x_{k+1}\mid x_{1},x_{2},\dots,x_{n}) \geq 0,\qquad \sum_{x_{k+1}} b(x_{k+1}\mid x_{1},x_{2},\dots,x_{k}) = 1

其中b(xk+1x1,x2,,xn)b(x_{k+1}\mid x_{1},x_{2},\dots,x_{n})是基于之前观测到的x1,xnx_{1},\dots x_{n}下注在xk+1x_{k+1}上的钱的比例。设赌注回报率相同(2-for-1),于是序列末尾的SnS_{n}

Sn=2nk=1nb(xk+1x1,x2,,xn)=2nb(x1,,xn)S_{n} = 2^n \prod_{k=1}^n b(x_{k+1}\mid x_{1},x_{2},\dots,x_{n}) = 2^n b(x_{1},\dots,x_{n})

下面我们证明更高的SnS_{n}意味着更有效的数据压缩。换言之,如果问题中的结果给出wealth SnS_{n},那么通过压缩策略可以保存logSn\log S_{n}bits

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