Homework 10 - Solution

(p.456: 9.19)
Let Y1, Y2, ..., Yn denote a random sample from the probability function

y 1 , 0  y  1,
f ( y)  
0, elsewhere,
where θ > 0. Show that Y is a consistent estimator of θ/(θ+1).

Solution:
First, we know that Yi ~Beta(θ, 1). Thus E( Y ) = E(Yi) = θ/(θ+1) and V( Y ) = V(Yi)/n =
θ/[n(θ+2)(θ+1)2] → 0, as n → ∞. So Y is a consistent estimator of θ/(θ+1).

(p.456: 9.20)
If Y has binomial distribution with n trials and success probability p, show that Y/n is a
consistent estimator of p.

Solution:
Since E(Y) = np and V(Y) = npq, we have that E(Y/n) = p and V(Y/n) = pq/n. Thus, Y/n is
consistent since it is unbiased and its variance goes to 0 with n.

(p.457: 9.28)
Let Y1, Y2, ..., Yn denote a random sample of size n from a Pareto distribution. Then the
methods of Section 6.7 imply that Y(1) = min(Y1, Y2, ..., Yn) has the distribution function given
by

0, y  ,
F(1) ( y )   n
1  (  / y ) , y   .
Use the method described in Exercise 9.26 to show that Y(1) is a consistent estimator of β.

Solution:
P( |Y(1) - β | ≤ ε) = P(β - ε ≤ Y(1) ≤ β + ε) = F(1)(β + ε) - F(1)(β - ε) = 1 - [β/(β + ε)]αn. Since
limn→∞1 - [β/(β + ε)]αn = 1 for every ε > 0, Y(1) is consistent.

(p.458: 9.36)
Suppose that Y has binomial distribution based on n trials and success probability p. Then
pˆ n  Y / n is an unbiased estimator of p. Use Theorem 9.3 to prove that the distribution of
( pˆ n  p ) / pˆ n qˆ n / n converges to a standard normal distribution.

Solution:
Let X1, X2, ..., Xn be a sequence of Bernoulli trials with success probability p. Thus it is seen that

Y  i 1 X i . Thus, by CLT,
n
 pˆ n  p
Un  pq / n


d
N (0,1) .

In Exercise 9.20, we showed that pˆ n  Y / n is consistent for p, similarly, we can show that

qˆ n  1  Y / n is consistent for q = 1 - p. By Theorem 9.2, pˆ n qˆ n is consistent for pq. Define

pˆ n qˆ n
Wn  pq .

So Wn converges in probability to 1. By Theorem 9.3,

pˆ n  p
Un
Wn  pq / n
pˆ n qˆn
 ( pˆ n  p ) / pˆ n qˆ n / n 

d
N (0,1)
pq