2.34 ( ) www To find the maximum likelihood solution for the covariance matrix of a multivariate Gaussian, we need to maximize the log likelihood function (2.118)

with respect to Σ, noting that the covariance matrix must be symmetric and positive definite. Here we proceed by ignoring these constraints and doing a straightforward maximization. Using the results (C.21), (C.26), and (C.28) from Appendix C, show that the covariance matrix Σ that maximizes the log likelihood function (2.118) is given by the sample covariance (2.122). We note that the final result is necessarily symmetric and positive definite (provided the sample covariance is nonsingular).