On best fractional linear generating function bounds

Abstract

Under weak conditions, this paper provides a best lower and a best upper bounding fractional linear generating function for any probability generating function when they have the same mean. These bounds can be used to obtain bounds for the expectation and the percentiles of the extinction-time distribution of a Galton-Watson branching process and other parameters of interest. For the special case of the four points probability generating function, the best bounds obtained are better than the bounds derived by Agresti (1974).