On the upper and lower covariances under multiple probabilities

Abstract

In this paper, we define the upper (resp. lower) covariance under multiple probabilities via a corresponding max-min-max (resp. min-max-min) optimization problem and the related properties of covariances are obtained. In particular, we propose a fast algorithm of calculation for upper and lower covariances under the finite number of probabilities. As an application, our algorithm can be used to solve a class of quadratic programming problem exactly, and we obtain a probabilistic representation of such quadratic programming problem.