INdexing in the sum of a geometric series in derivation of geometric dist cdf
Hi, I can't see how the indexing is working in this derivation. The question is: Show that the cdf for a geometric random variable is given by
, where
denotes the greatest integer in
.
The derivation is given as ![F_{X}(t) = P(X \leq t) = p \sum_{s=o}^{[t]}(1-p)^{s}](http://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?F_{X}(t) = P(X \leq t) = p \sum_{s=o}^{[t]}(1-p)^{s})
But
From which the result follows.
However, the sum of a the first n terms in a geometric series is: 
So if we are saying that
and ![n-1 = [t]](http://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?n-1 = [t])
Then I can't see how this makes sense since it seems we are summing over
terms, from
to ![s = [t]](http://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?s = [t])
Or in other words, if
, why isn't the closed form of the sum over
as follows:
?
Thanks in advance for any insights. MD