Rounding Effects in Record Statistics

Abstract

We analyze record-breaking events in time series of continuous random variables that are subsequently discretized by rounding down to integer multiples of a discretization scale $\Delta>0$. Rounding leads to ties of an existing record, thereby reducing the number of new records. For an infinite number of random variables that are drawn from distributions with a finite upper limit, the number of discrete records is finite, while for distributions with a thinner than exponential upper tail, fewer discrete records arise compared to continuous variables. In the latter case the record sequence becomes highly regular at long times.