In mathematics, Kronecker's lemma (see, e.g., Shiryaev (1996, Lemma IV.3.2)) is a result about the relationship between convergence of infinite sums and convergence of sequences. The lemma is often used in the proofs of theorems concerning sums of independent random variables such as the strong Law of large numbers. The lemma is named after the German mathematician Leopold Kronecker.
Contents
The lemma
If
exists and is finite, then we have for all
Proof
Let
Pick any ε > 0. Now choose N so that
Now, let n go to infinity. The first term goes to s, which cancels with the third term. The second term goes to zero (as the sum is a fixed value). Since the b sequence is increasing, the last term is bounded by