Friday, September 30, 2016

Squeeze theorem

Usually named results are named after somebody. Then there's the unfortunate result that is given such a catchy name that nobody remembers who came up with it. The squeeze theorem is one such result:

Let {an}, {bn}, {cn} be sequences such that an ≤ bn ≤ cn. If {an} and {cn} converge to the same limit, L, then {bn} converges to L.

As with many analysis results, it seems pretty obvious. But, it's also really, really useful. Enough so, that if I was the one who came up with this, I'd be pissed it wasn't called Buckley's Theorem. So, I've decided that my thesis topic, which is basically an optimal stopping rule for sampling large databases will be called the Targeted Incremental Transform Search and Assessment. That way, if it doesn't get named Buckley's Algorithm, it will at least get called TITS and Ass. I'd be fine with that.

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