A note on uniform exponential convergence of sample average approximation of random functions

Abstract

Shapiro and Xu (2008) [17] investigated uniform large deviation of a class of Hölder continuous random functions. It is shown under some standard moment conditions that with probability approaching one at exponential rate with the increase of sample size, the sample average approximation of the random function converges to its expected value uniformly over a compact set. This note extends the result to a class of discontinuous functions whose expected values are continuous and the Hölder continuity may be violated for some negligible random realizations. The extension entails the application of the exponential convergence result to a substantially larger class of practically interesting functions in stochastic optimization.