|
Method Of Moments (statistics)
In statistics, the method of moments is a method of estimation of population parameters. The same principle is used to derive higher moments like skewness and kurtosis. It starts by expressing the population moments (i.e., the expected values of powers of the random variable under consideration) as functions of the parameters of interest. Those expressions are then set equal to the sample moments. The number of such equations is the same as the number of parameters to be estimated. Those equations are then solved for the parameters of interest. The solutions are estimates of those parameters. The method of moments was introduced by Pafnuty Chebyshev in 1887 in the proof of the central limit theorem. The idea of matching empirical moments of a distribution to the population moments dates back at least to Karl Pearson. Method Suppose that the parameter \theta = (\theta_1, \theta_2, \dots, \theta_k) characterizes the distribution f_W(w; \theta) of the random variable W. Supp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convergence In Distribution
In probability theory, there exist several different notions of convergence of sequences of random variables, including ''convergence in probability'', ''convergence in distribution'', and ''almost sure convergence''. The different notions of convergence capture different properties about the sequence, with some notions of convergence being stronger than others. For example, convergence in distribution tells us about the limit distribution of a sequence of random variables. This is a weaker notion than convergence in probability, which tells us about the value a random variable will take, rather than just the distribution. The concept is important in probability theory, and its applications to statistics and stochastic processes. The same concepts are known in more general mathematics as stochastic convergence and they formalize the idea that certain properties of a sequence of essentially random or unpredictable events can sometimes be expected to settle down into a behavior that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bias Of An Estimator
In statistics, the bias of an estimator (or bias function) is the difference between this estimator's expected value and the true value of the parameter being estimated. An estimator or decision rule with zero bias is called ''unbiased''. In statistics, "bias" is an property of an estimator. Bias is a distinct concept from consistency: consistent estimators converge in probability to the true value of the parameter, but may be biased or unbiased (see bias versus consistency for more). All else being equal, an unbiased estimator is preferable to a biased estimator, although in practice, biased estimators (with generally small bias) are frequently used. When a biased estimator is used, bounds of the bias are calculated. A biased estimator may be used for various reasons: because an unbiased estimator does not exist without further assumptions about a population; because an estimator is difficult to compute (as in unbiased estimation of standard deviation); because a biased esti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decoding Methods
In coding theory, decoding is the process of translating received messages into Code word (communication), codewords of a given code. There have been many common methods of mapping messages to codewords. These are often used to recover messages sent over a noisy channel, such as a binary symmetric channel. Notation C \subset \mathbb_2^n is considered a binary code with the length n; x,y shall be elements of \mathbb_2^n; and d(x,y) is the distance between those elements. Ideal observer decoding One may be given the message x \in \mathbb_2^n, then ideal observer decoding generates the codeword y \in C. The process results in this solution: :\mathbb(y \mbox \mid x \mbox) For example, a person can choose the codeword y that is most likely to be received as the message x after transmission. Decoding conventions Each codeword does not have an expected possibility: there may be more than one codeword with an equal likelihood of mutating into the received message. In such a case, the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generalized Method Of Moments
In econometrics and statistics, the generalized method of moments (GMM) is a generic method for estimating parameters in statistical models. Usually it is applied in the context of semiparametric models, where the parameter of interest is finite-dimensional, whereas the full shape of the data's distribution function may not be known, and therefore maximum likelihood estimation is not applicable. The method requires that a certain number of ''moment conditions'' be specified for the model. These moment conditions are functions of the model parameters and the data, such that their expectation is zero at the parameters' true values. The GMM method then minimizes a certain norm of the sample averages of the moment conditions, and can therefore be thought of as a special case of minimum-distance estimation. The GMM estimators are known to be consistent, asymptotically normal, and most efficient in the class of all estimators that do not use any extra information aside from that conta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uniform Distribution (continuous)
In probability theory and statistics, the continuous uniform distributions or rectangular distributions are a family of symmetric probability distributions. Such a distribution describes an experiment where there is an arbitrary outcome that lies between certain bounds. The bounds are defined by the parameters, a and b, which are the minimum and maximum values. The interval can either be closed (i.e. ,b/math>) or open (i.e. (a,b)). Therefore, the distribution is often abbreviated U(a,b), where U stands for uniform distribution. The difference between the bounds defines the interval length; all intervals of the same length on the distribution's support are equally probable. It is the maximum entropy probability distribution for a random variable X under no constraint other than that it is contained in the distribution's support. Definitions Probability density function The probability density function of the continuous uniform distribution is f(x) = \begin \dfrac & ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hankel Matrix
In linear algebra, a Hankel matrix (or catalecticant matrix), named after Hermann Hankel, is a rectangular matrix in which each ascending skew-diagonal from left to right is constant. For example, \qquad\begin a & b & c & d & e \\ b & c & d & e & f \\ c & d & e & f & g \\ d & e & f & g & h \\ e & f & g & h & i \\ \end. More generally, a Hankel matrix is any n \times n matrix A of the form A = \begin a_0 & a_1 & a_2 & \ldots & a_ \\ a_1 & a_2 & & &\vdots \\ a_2 & & & & a_ \\ \vdots & & & a_ & a_ \\ a_ & \ldots & a_ & a_ & a_ \end. In terms of the components, if the i,j element of A is denoted with A_, and assuming i \le j, then we have A_ = A_ for all k = 0,...,j-i. Properties * Any Hankel matrix is symmetric. * Let J_n be the n \times n exchange matrix. If H is an m \times n Hankel matrix, then H = T J_n where T is an m \times n Toeplitz matrix. ** If T is real symmetric, then H = T J_n will have the same eigenvalues as T up to sign. * The Hilbert matrix is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stochastic Process
In probability theory and related fields, a stochastic () or random process is a mathematical object usually defined as a family of random variables in a probability space, where the index of the family often has the interpretation of time. Stochastic processes are widely used as mathematical models of systems and phenomena that appear to vary in a random manner. Examples include the growth of a bacterial population, an electrical current fluctuating due to thermal noise, or the movement of a gas molecule. Stochastic processes have applications in many disciplines such as biology, chemistry, ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ..., neuroscience, physics, image processing, signal processing, stochastic control, control theory, information theory, computer scien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utility
In economics, utility is a measure of a certain person's satisfaction from a certain state of the world. Over time, the term has been used with at least two meanings. * In a normative context, utility refers to a goal or objective that we wish to maximize, i.e., an objective function. This kind of utility bears a closer resemblance to the original utilitarian concept, developed by moral philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. * In a descriptive context, the term refers to an ''apparent'' objective function; such a function is revealed by a person's behavior, and specifically by their preferences over lotteries, which can be any quantified choice. The relationship between these two kinds of utility functions has been a source of controversy among both economists and ethicists, with most maintaining that the two are distinct but generally related. Utility function Consider a set of alternatives among which a person has a preference ordering. A utility fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sufficiency (statistics)
In statistics, sufficiency is a property of a statistic computed on a sample dataset in relation to a parametric model of the dataset. A sufficient statistic contains all of the information that the dataset provides about the model parameters. It is closely related to the concepts of an ancillary statistic which contains no information about the model parameters, and of a complete statistic which only contains information about the parameters and no ancillary information. A related concept is that of linear sufficiency, which is weaker than ''sufficiency'' but can be applied in some cases where there is no sufficient statistic, although it is restricted to linear estimators. The Kolmogorov structure function deals with individual finite data; the related notion there is the algorithmic sufficient statistic. The concept is due to Sir Ronald Fisher in 1920. Stephen Stigler noted in 1973 that the concept of sufficiency had fallen out of favor in descriptive statistics because of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maximum Likelihood
In statistics, maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is a method of estimating the parameters of an assumed probability distribution, given some observed data. This is achieved by maximizing a likelihood function so that, under the assumed statistical model, the observed data is most probable. The point in the parameter space that maximizes the likelihood function is called the maximum likelihood estimate. The logic of maximum likelihood is both intuitive and flexible, and as such the method has become a dominant means of statistical inference. If the likelihood function is differentiable, the derivative test for finding maxima can be applied. In some cases, the first-order conditions of the likelihood function can be solved analytically; for instance, the ordinary least squares estimator for a linear regression model maximizes the likelihood when the random errors are assumed to have normal distributions with the same variance. From the perspective of Bayesian inference, ML ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newton–Raphson Method
In numerical analysis, the Newton–Raphson method, also known simply as Newton's method, named after Isaac Newton and Joseph Raphson, is a root-finding algorithm which produces successively better approximations to the roots (or zeroes) of a real-valued function. The most basic version starts with a real-valued function , its derivative , and an initial guess for a root of . If satisfies certain assumptions and the initial guess is close, then x_ = x_0 - \frac is a better approximation of the root than . Geometrically, is the x-intercept of the tangent of the graph of at : that is, the improved guess, , is the unique root of the linear approximation of at the initial guess, . The process is repeated as x_ = x_n - \frac until a sufficiently precise value is reached. The number of correct digits roughly doubles with each step. This algorithm is first in the class of Householder's methods, and was succeeded by Halley's method. The method can also be extended to comple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Method Of Maximum Likelihood
In statistics, maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is a method of estimating the parameters of an assumed probability distribution, given some observed data. This is achieved by maximizing a likelihood function so that, under the assumed statistical model, the observed data is most probable. The point in the parameter space that maximizes the likelihood function is called the maximum likelihood estimate. The logic of maximum likelihood is both intuitive and flexible, and as such the method has become a dominant means of statistical inference. If the likelihood function is differentiable, the derivative test for finding maxima can be applied. In some cases, the first-order conditions of the likelihood function can be solved analytically; for instance, the ordinary least squares estimator for a linear regression model maximizes the likelihood when the random errors are assumed to have normal distributions with the same variance. From the perspective of Bayesian inference, MLE ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
