The Likelihood Function - Introduction
The Likelihood Function - Introduction • Recall: a statistical model for some data is a set { f θ : θ ∈ Ω} of distributions, one of which corresponds to the true unknown distribution that produced the data. • The distribution fθ can be either a probability density function or a probability mass function. • The joint probability density function or probability mass function of iid random variables X1, …, Xn is n θ ()1 ,..., n = ∏ θ ()xfxxf i . i=1 week 3 1 The Likelihood Function •Let x1, …, xn be sample observations taken on corresponding random variables X1, …, Xn whose distribution depends on a parameter θ. The likelihood function defined on the parameter space Ω is given by L|(θ x1 ,..., xn ) = θ f( 1,..., xn ) x . • Note that for the likelihood function we are fixing the data, x1,…, xn, and varying the value of the parameter. •The value L(θ | x1, …, xn) is called the likelihood of θ. It is the probability of observing the data values we observed given that θ is the true value of the parameter. It is not the probability of θ given that we observed x1, …, xn. week 3 2 Examples • Suppose we toss a coin n = 10 times and observed 4 heads. With no knowledge whatsoever about the probability of getting a head on a single toss, the appropriate statistical model for the data is the Binomial(10, θ) model. The likelihood function is given by • Suppose X1, …, Xn is a random sample from an Exponential(θ) distribution. The likelihood function is week 3 3 Sufficiency - Introduction • A statistic that summarizes all the information in the sample about the target parameter is called sufficient statistic.
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