In this paper, we consider Galton–Watson trees conditioned by size. We show that the number of k-ancestors (ancestors that have k children) of a node u is (almost) proportional to its depth. The k, j-ancestors are also studied. The methods rely on the study of ladder variables on an associated random walk. We also give an application to finite branching random walks.

This note is concerned with N, the time at which a random walk first exits from [0,∞), and M, the maximum of the random walk up to time N. In the case that the random walk has zero mean and finite variance, simple proofs are given of asymptotic estimates for P{M > x}, P{N ≦ ux2|M > x} and P{M ≦ v √n|N > n}.

Let be a family of random walks with For ε↓0 under certain conditions the random walk U(∊)n converges to an oscillating random walk. The ladder point distributions and expectations converge correspondingly. Let M∊ = max {U(∊)n, n ≧ 0}, v0 = min {n : U(∊)n = M∊}, v1 = max {n : U(∊)n = M∊}. The joint limiting distribution of ∊2σ∊–2v0 and ∊σ∊–2M∊ is determined. It is the same as for ∊2σ∊–2v1 and ∊σ–2∊M∊. The marginal ∊σ–2∊M∊ gives Kingman's heavy traffic theorem. Also lim ∊–1P(M∊ = 0) and lim ∊–1P(M∊ < x) are determined. Proofs are by direct comparison of corresponding probabilities for U(∊)n and for a special family of random walks related to MI/M/1 queues, using the central limit theorem.

The reversed strict ascending ladder epoch v1 + ··· +vm of the random walk S(n) with drift to ∞ is the m th time n at which the event S(n) < S(k), k > n, occurs and the corresponding ladder height is H1 + ··· + Hm = S(v1 + ··· + vm). It is shown that the random vectors (vi, Hi) are independent and for i ≧ 2 have the same distribution as the first strict ascending ladder time and height in the usual sense. This leads to an equality between the distribution of the first strict ladder height and P{min S(n) ≧ x} for x > 0. Reversed weak ladder points are defined analogously.