RATIOS OF TRIMMED SUMS AND ORDER-STATISTICS

Let X(i) be independent and identically distributed random variables with distribution F. Let M(n)(n) less-than-or-equal-to ... less-than-or-equal-to M(n)(1) be the sample X1, X2,..., X(n) arranged in increasing order, with a convention for the breaking of ties, and let X(n)(n),..., X(n)(1) be the sample arranged in increasing order of modulus, again with a convention to break ties. Let S(n) = X1 + ... +X(n) be the sample sum. We consider sums trimmed by large values, (r)S(n) = S(n) - M(n)(1) - ... - M(n)(r), r = 1,2,..., n, (0)S(n) = S(n), and sums trimmed by values large in modulus, (r)S(n) = S(n) - X(n)(1) - ... - X(n)(r), r = 1,2,..., n, (0)S(n) = S(n). In this paper we give necessary and sufficient conditions for (r)S(n)/\X(n)(r)\ --> infinity (r)S(n)/M(n)(r) --> infinity to hold almost surely or in probability, when r = 1, 2,... . These express the dominance of the sum over the large values in the sample in various ways and are of interest in relation to the law of large numbers and to central limit behavior. Our conditions are related to the relative stability almost surely or in probability of the trimmed sum and, hence, to analytic conditions on the tail of the distribution of X(i) which give relative stability.