Skip to content Skip to navigation

Connexions

You are here: Home » Content » Random Parameters

Navigation

Content Actions

  • Download module PDF
  • Add to ...
    Add the module to:
    • My Favorites
    • A lens
    • An external social bookmarking service
    • My Favorites (What is 'My Favorites'?)
      'My Favorites' is a special kind of lens which you can use to bookmark modules and collections directly in Connexions. 'My Favorites' can only be seen by you, and collections saved in 'My Favorites' can remember the last module you were on. You need a Connexions account to use 'My Favorites'.
    • A lens (What is a lens?)

      Definition of a lens

      Lenses

      A lens is a custom view of Connexions content. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see Connexions through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

      What is in a lens?

      Lens makers point to Connexions materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

      Who can create a lens?

      Any individual Connexions member, a community, or a respected organization.

    • External bookmarks
  • E-mail the author

Recently Viewed

Random Parameters

Module by: Don Johnson

When we know the density of θ θ, the likelihood function can be expressed as pr| i r=pr| i θrpθθdθ p r i r θ p r i θ r p θ θ and the likelihood ratio in the random parameter case becomes Λr=pr| i θrpθθdθpr| i θrpθθdθ Λ r θ p r i θ r p θ θ θ p r i θ r p θ θ Unfortunately, there are many examples where either the integrals involved are intractable or the sufficient statistic is virtually the same as the likelihood ratio, which can be difficult to compute.

Example 1

A simple, but interesting, example that results in a computable answer occurs when the mean of Gaussian random variables is either zero (model 0) or is ±m ± m with equal probability (hypothesis 1). The second hypothesis means that a non-zero mean is present, but its sign is not known. We are therefore stating that if hypothesis one is in fact valid, the mean has fixed sign for each observation - what is random is its a priori value. As before, L L statistically independent observations are made. 0 : r0σ2I 0 : r 0 σ 2 I 1 : rmσ2I 1 : r m σ 2 I m=mmProb1/2-m-mProb1/2 m m m 12 m m 12 The numerator of the likelihood ratio is the sum of two Gaussian densities weighted by 1/2 12 (the a priori probability values), one having a positive mean, the other negative. The likelihood ratio, after simple cancellation of common terms, becomes Λr=122ml=0L-1 r l -Lm22σ2+12-2ml=0L-1 r l -Lm22σ2 Λ r 1 2 2 m l 0 L 1 r l L m 2 2 σ 2 1 2 -2 m l 0 L 1 r l L m 2 2 σ 2 and the decision rule takes the form coshmσ2l=0L-1 r l 0 1 ηLm22σ2 m σ 2 l 0 L 1 r l 0 1 η L m 2 2 σ 2 where coshx x is the hyperbolic cosine given simply as x+-x2 x x 2 . As this quantity is an even function, the sign of its argument has no effect on the result. The decision rule can be written more simply as |l=0L-1 r l | 0 1 σ2|m|arccoshηLm22σ2 l 0 L 1 r l 0 1 σ 2 m η L m 2 2 σ 2 The sufficient statistic equals the magnitude of the sum of the observations in this case. While the right side of this expression, which equals γ γ, is complicated, it need only be computed once. Calculation of the performance probabilities can be complicated; in this case, the false-alarm probability is easy to find and the others more difficult.

Comments, questions, feedback, criticisms?

Send feedback