An approximation of the inverse moments of the positive hypergeometric distribution

The negative moments of the positive hyper geometric distribution are often approximated by the inverse of the positive moments of this distribution. In this paper, a suitable approximation to the positive hypergeometric distribution is used to obtain the negative moments.     

On moment indeterminacy of the Benini income distribution

The Benini distribution is a lognormal-like distribution generalizing the Pareto distribution. Like the Pareto and the lognormal distributions it was originally proposed for modeling economic size distributions, notably the size distribution of personal income. This paper explores a probabilistic property of the Benini distribution, showing that it is not determined by the sequence of its moments although all the moments are finite. It also provides explicit examples of distributions possessing the same set of moments. Related distributions are briefly explored.     

Incomplete moments of modified power series districutions with applications

The recurrence relations between the incomplete moments and the factorial incomplete moments of the modified power series distributions (MPSD) are derived. These relations are employed to obtain the experessions for the incomplete moments and the incomplete factorial moments of some particular members of the MPSD class such as the generalized negative binomial, the generalized Poisson, the generalized logrithmic series, the lost game distribution and the distribution of the number of customers served in a busy period. An application of the incomplete moments of the generalized Poisson distribution is provided in the economic selection of a manufactured product. A numerical example is provided using the Poisson distribution and the Generalized Poisson distribution. The example illustrates the difference in results using the two models     

An approximation of the distribution function of the LIML identifiability test statistic using the method of moments

This paper contains an application of the asymptotic expansion of a pFp() function to a problem encountered in econometrics. In particular we consider an approximation of the distribution function of the limited information maximum likelihood (LIML) identifiability test statistic using the method of moments. An expression for the Sth order asymptotic approximation of the moments of the LIML identifiability test statistic is derived and tabulated. The exact distribution function of the test statistic is approximated by a member of the class of F (variance ratio) distribution functions having the same first two integer moments. Some tabulations of the approximating distribution function are included.     

A Moment Preserving Finitization Across the Power Series Family of Probability Distributions

Finitization transforms a discrete distribution into a distribution with smaller support of specified size. In special cases finitization preserves moments (moments of the order n finitization coincide with those of the parent distribution). We create a moment preserving finitization method for power series distributions by introducing an alternative representation and showing how to finitize members of this new class in a manner that preserves moments of the parent distribution. We provide results on convolutions and a reproductive property for power series distributions that have been finitized in this manner, and show how these finitized distributions accelerate variate generation in simulation.     

Moment density estimation for positive random variables

An unknown moment-determinate cumulative distribution function or its density function can be recovered from corresponding moments and estimated from the empirical moments. This method of estimating an unknown density is natural in certain inverse estimation models like multiplicative censoring or biased sampling when the moments of unobserved distribution can be estimated via the transformed moments of the observed distribution. In this paper, we introduce a new nonparametric estimator of a probability density function defined on the positive real line, motivated by the above. Some fundamental properties of proposed estimator are studied. The comparison with traditional kernel density estimator is discussed.     

On some characteristics of bivariate chi-square distribution

Product moments of bivariate chi-square distribution have been derived in closed forms. Finite expressions have been derived for product moments of integer orders. Marginal and conditional distributions, conditional moments, coefficient of skewness and kurtosis of conditional distribution have also been discussed. Shannon entropy of the distribution is also derived. We also discuss the Bayesian estimation of a parameter of the distribution. Results match with the independent case when the variables are uncorrelated.     

Order statistics from discrete distributions

Several recurrence relations and identities available for single and product moments of order1 statistics in a sample size n from an arbitrary continuous distribution are extended for the discrete case,, Making use of these recurrence relations it is shown that it is sufficient to evaluate just two single moments and (n-l)/2 product moments when n is odd and two single moments and {n-2)/2 product moments when n is even, in order to evaluate the first, second and product moments of order statistics in a sample of size n drawn from an arbitrary discrete distribution, given these moments in samples of sizes n-1 and less.. A series representation for the product moments of order statistics is derived.. Besides enabling us to obtain an exact and explicit expression for the product moments of order statistics from the geometric distribution, it. makes the computation of the product moments of order statistics from other discrete distributions easy too.     

Maximizing Probability Bounds Under Moment-Matching Restrictions

The problem of characterizing a distribution by its moments dates to work by Chebyshev in the mid-nineteenth century. There are clear (and close) connections with characteristic functions, moment spaces, quadrature, and other very classical mathematical pursuits. Lindsay and Basak posed the specific question of how far from normality could a distribution be if it matches k normal moments. They provided a bound on the maximal difference in cdfs, and implied that these bounds were attained. It will be shown here that in fact the bound is not attained if the number of even moments matched is odd. An explicit solution is developed as a symmetric distribution with a finite number of mass points when the number of even moments matched is even, and this bound for the even case is shown to hold as an explicit limit for the subsequent odd case. As Lindsay noted, the discrepancies can be sizable even for a moderate number of matched moments. Some comments on implications are proffered.     

Moments of order statistics of the standard two-sided power distribution

The standard two-sided power distribution is a flexible distribution having uniform, power function and triangular as subdistributions, and it is a reasonable alternative to the Laplace distribution in some cases. In this work, computationally efficient expressions for moments of order statistics, expressions for L-moments, and asymptotic results for sample extrema are derived. Then a simulation study is performed for the location-scale estimation problem of a small data set by considering the maximum likelihood estimation method and the best linear unbiased estimation method based on the moments of order statistics.     

Recurrence relations for single and product moments of order statistics from a generalized half logistic distribution with applications to inference

In this paper, we derive several recurrence relations satisfied by the single and product moments of order statistics from a generalized half logistic distribution. These generalize the corresponding results for the half logistic distribution established by Balakrishnan (1985). The relations established in this paper will enable one to compute the single and product moments of all order statistics for all sample sizes in a simple recursive manner; this may be done for any choice of the shape parameter k. These moments can then be used to determine the best linear unbiased estimators of location and scale parameters from complete as well as Type-I1 censored samples.     

Characterization of a mixture of gamma distributions via conditional finite moments

A necessary and sufficient condition that a continuous, positive random variable follow a gamma distribution is given in terms of any one of its conditional finite moments and an expression involving its failure rate. The results are then used to develop a characterization for a mixture of two gamma distributions. The general results about characterization of a mixture of gamma distributions yield several special cases that have appeared separately in recent literature, including characterization of a single exponential distribution, characterization of a single gamma distribution (in terms of either first or second moments) and a sufficient condition for a mixture of two exponential distributions (in terms of first moments). The condition in this last result is shown to be necessary also. Numerous other cases are possible, using different choices for distribution parameters along with a selection of the mixing parameter, for either individual or mixtures of distributions. Various characterizations can be expressed using higher order moments, too.     

Moments of truncated normal/independent distributions

In this work we have considered the problem of finding the moments of a doubly truncated member of the class of normal/independent distributions. We obtained a general result and then use it to derive the moments in the case of doubly truncated versions of Pearson type VII distribution, slash distribution, contaminated normal distribution, double exponential distribution and variance gamma distribution. We also give an application of some actuarial data.     

Durbin–Watson and Generalized Durbin–Watson Tests for Autocorrelations and Randomness

The Durbin–Watson (DW) test for lag 1 autocorrelation has been generalized (DWG) to test for autocorrelations at higher lags. This includes the Wallis test for lag 4 autocorrelation. These tests are also applicable to test for the important hypothesis of randomness. It is found that for small sample sizes a normal distribution or a scaled beta distribution by matching the first two moments approximates well the null distribution of the DW and DWG statistics. The approximations seem to be adequate even when the samples are from nonnormal distributions. These approximations require the first two moments of these statistics. The expressions of these moments are derived.     

Testing the Stochastic Structure of Production: A Flexible Moment-Based Approach

Conventional production function specifications are shown to impose restrictions on the probability distribution of output that cannot be tested with the conventional models. These restrictions have important implications for firm behavior under uncertainty. A flexible representation of a firm's stochastic technology is developed based on the moments of the probability distribution of output. These moments are a unique representation of the technology and are functions of inputs. Large-sample estimators are developed for a linear moment model that is sufficiently flexible to test the restrictions implied by conventional production function specifications. The flexible moment-based approach is applied to milk production data. The first three moments of output are statistically significant functions of inputs. The cross-moment restrictions implied by conventional models are rejected.     

A New Class of Non Negative Distributions Generated by Symmetric Distributions

In this article, we study a new class of non negative distributions generated by the symmetric distributions around zero. For the special case of the distribution generated using the normal distribution, properties like moments generating function, stochastic representation, reliability connections, and inference aspects using methods of moments and maximum likelihood are studied. Moreover, a real data set is analyzed, illustrating the fact that good fits can result.     

On some aspects of a flexible class of additive Weibull distribution

Here we consider a more flexible class of the additive Weibull distribution of Xie and Lai (Reliab. Eng. Syst. Safety, 1995) and investigate some of its important properties such as expressions for its cumulative distribution function, reliability measures, quantile function, characteristic function, raw moments, incomplete moments, etc. The distribution and moments of order statistics are obtained along with certain structural properties. The maximum-likelihood estimation of the parameters of the distribution is attempted and the usefulness of the model in certain applied areas is illustrated with the help of certain real life data sets.     

Characterization of Lindley distribution by truncated moments

In the past few years, the Lindley distribution has gained popularity for modeling lifetime data as an alternative to the exponential distribution. This paper provides two new characterizations of the Lindley distribution. The first characterization is based on a relation between left truncated moments and failure rate function. The second characterization is based on a relation between right truncated moments and reversed failure rate function.     

Modified slash distribution

In this paper we introduce a modified slash distribution obtained by modifying the usual slash distribution. This new distribution is based on the quotient of two independent random variables, whose distributions are the normal and the power of an exponential distribution of scale parameter equals to two, respectively. In this way, the result is a new distribution whose kurtosis values are greater when compared with that of the slash distribution. We study the density, some properties, moments, kurtosis and make inferences by the method of moments and maximum likelihood. We introduce a multivariate version of this new distribution. Moreover, we provide two illustrations with real data showing that the new distribution fits better the data than the ordinary slash distribution.     

On the computing of the moments of bivariate order statistics

In this paper, we establish general recurrence relations satisfied by the product moments (of any order) of bivariate order statistics from any arbitrary bivariate uniform distribution function. Moreover, we present formulae to easily compute the product moments (of any order) of bivariate order statistics from any arbitrary bivariate distribution function, with positive left endpoints, or with negative right endpoints.