The estimation of the number of balls put in a sequence of urns

Let X₁,…,X_2n be independent and identically distributed copies of the non-negative integer valued random variable X distributed according to the unknown frequency function f(x). A total of 2n disjoint sequences of urns, each consisting of k urns, are given. X_j balls are placed in urn sequence j (1 ≤ j ≤ 2n). Each ball is placed in an urn of a given sequence with a certain known probability independently of the other balls. The variables X₁,…,X_2n are not observed; rather we observe whether certain pairs of urns are both empty or not. Our object is to estimate the mean μ of the number of balls X. Two different kinds of estimators of μ are investigated. One of the estimators studied is a method of moments type estimator while the other is motivated by the maximum likelihood principle. These estimators are compared on the basis of their asymptotic mean squared error as k tends to infinity. An application of these results to a problem in genetics involved with estimating codon substitution rates is discussed.