Optimal Linear Estimation of Bounds of Random Variables

Abstract

The problem of estimating the bounds of random variables has been previously discussed. Here we discuss optimality of estimates when the data is censored so that only the r largest or smallest of the observations is available for estimating a bound. For fixed r we find the linear function of the censored data which is the optimal estimator of a bound in the sense that, when the sample size is large, the estimator has smallest mean squared error among all such linear estimators. Provided r is not close to one, these estimators are almost optimal when the entire sample is available since, for example, when estimating an upper bound and the sample size is large, the largest few observations carry most of the information about the bound. This fact is illustrated in one case.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 24, 1979
Accession Number
ADA077068

Entities

People

  • Peter Cooke

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Coefficients
  • Estimators
  • Military Research
  • Observation
  • Optimal Estimators
  • Order Statistics
  • Random Variables
  • Security
  • Statistical Inference
  • Statistics
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Statistical inference.