Question: At time t = 0, there is one individual alive in a certain population. A pure birth process then unfolds as follows. The time until

At time t = 0, there is one individual alive in a certain population. A pure birth process then unfolds as follows. The time until the first birth is exponentially distributed with parameter λ. After the first birth, there are two individuals alive. The time until the first gives birth again is exponential with parameter λ, and similarly for the second individual. Therefore, the time until the next birth is the minimum of two exponential (λ) variables, which is exponential with parameter 2λ. Similarly, once the second birth has occurred, there are three individuals alive, so the time until the next birth is an exponential rv with parameter 3λ, and so on (the memory less property of the exponential distribution is being used here). Suppose the process is observed until the sixth birth has occurred and the successive birth times are 25.2, 41.7, 51.2, 55.5, 59.5, 61.8 (from which you should calculate the times between successive births). Derive the mle of λ.

Step by Step Solution

3.37 Rating (166 Votes )

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock

Let x 1 the time until the first birth x 2 the elapsed time ... View full answer

blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Document Format (1 attachment)

Word file Icon

1172-M-S-P-E(1223).docx

120 KBs Word File

Students Have Also Explored These Related Statistics Questions!