Consider a stun Sigma (N)(1) Y-i of random variables conditioned on a given
value of the sum Sigma (N)(1) X-i of some other variables, where Xi and Yi
are dependent but the pairs (Xi, Yi) form an i.i.d. sequence. We consider
here the case when each Xi is discrete. We prove, for a triangular array ((
X-ni, Y-ni)) of such pairs satisfying certain conditions, both convergence
of the distribution of the conditioned sum (after suitable normalization) t
o a normal distribution, and convergence of its moments. The results are mo
tivated by an application to hashing with linear probing; we give also some
other applications to occupancy problems, random forests, and branching pr
ocesses.