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Let $y_1, \dots,y_n$ be i.i.d. random variables from $Exp(\theta)$, where $\theta$ is scale parameter. I've found the MLE $$\hat \theta=\frac{\sum^{n}_{i=1}y_i}{n}$$

Now I need to find the exact distribution of $\hat \theta$.

I know that if $y\sim Exp(\theta)$ than $\sum^{n}_{i=1}y_i\sim Ga(n,\theta)$, so I would say $\hat \theta\sim Ga(n,n\theta)$. Is that correct?

Edit

The right solution is $\hat \theta\sim Ga(n,\frac{\theta}{n})$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you sure it is not $1/\bar{X}_n$? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 12:19
  • $\begingroup$ No, I'm not sure at all :-) $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 12:31
  • $\begingroup$ What is stopping you to check your answer? (Edited the tags to more relevant ones.) $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 13:03
  • $\begingroup$ @Did I'll try to restart from the beginning. Let be $T=\sum^{n}_{i=1}y_i$. Now, if $T\sim Ga(k,\theta)$ then, for any $c \gt 0$, $cT\sim Ga(k,c\theta)$. So, I should correct my answer with $\hat \theta\sim Ga(n,\frac{\theta}{n})$. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 13:30
  • $\begingroup$ Thus, question solved? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 13:47

1 Answer 1

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1) If $X\sim\mathcal{E}xp(\theta)$ where $f_X(x)=\theta e^{-\theta x}$, then $\hat{\theta}=1/\bar{Y}_n$. As such $\sum Y_i \sim Gam(n, \theta)$, then $1/\sum Y_i \sim \text{Inv-Gam}(n, 1/\theta)$. So, your MLE is $n$ times Inverse-Gamma random variable. You can derive its analytical expression by using $f_Y(y)=f_X(g^{-1}(y))|(g^{-1}(y))'|$.

2) If $X\sim\mathcal{E}xp(\theta)$ where $f_X(x)=1/\theta e^{-x/\theta }$, then your answer is correct.

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    $\begingroup$ Hi, I think the MLE is correct because I used scale parameterization of exponential distribution. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 13:31
  • $\begingroup$ OK, then the answer in the comment seems to be correct... $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 21, 2016 at 13:35

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