Recurrence times and the expected number of renewal epochs over a finite interval

Abstract

This paper initially presents bounds for the joint tail and the conditional tails of the backward and forward recurrence times. Using these bounds, we deliver an improvement to the lower bound for the renewal function given by Brown [Inequalities for distributions with increasing failure rate. In: Gelfand AE, editors. Contributions to the theory and applications of statistics, a volume in honour of Herbert Solomon. Orlando, FL: Academic; 1987. p. 3–17] for IFR inter-arrival times. Finally, this paper proposes a renewal type equation for the expected number of renewals in and, under certain conditions, improves Lorden's [On excess over the boundary. Ann Math Stat. 1970;41(2):520–527] well-known general upper bound for the expected number of renewals in .