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Distribution of the Derivative of the Likelihood Function
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  • Letter
  • Published: 14 May 1966

Distribution of the Derivative of the Likelihood Function

  • M. L. TIKU1 

Nature volume 210, page 766 (1966)Cite this article

  • 401 Accesses

  • 8 Citations

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Abstract

IT is common practice to approximate the distribution of the derivative of the log-likelihood, ∂L/∂θ, by a normal distribution with mean zero and variance V = − [E(∂2L/∂θ2)]. Calculations show that the three-moment χ2-approximation: can be a considerable improvement over the normal approximation, where a, b and ν (the degrees of freedom of the χ2) are determined so that the right-hand side of (1) has its first three moments in common with (∂L/∂θ), that is:

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References

  1. Pearson, E. S., and Hartley, H. O., Biometrika, 38, 112 (1951).

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  2. Harter, H. L., More Tables of Incomplete Gamma-function (1964).

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  3. Bartlett, M. S., Biometrika, 40, 12 (1953).

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  4. Pearson, E. S., Biometrika, 46, 364 (1959).

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  5. Tiku, M. L., Biometrika, 53, 415 (1965).

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  6. Tiku, M. L., Biometrika, 53, 630 (1965).

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  7. Tiku, M. L., Austral. J. Statist., 7 (in the press).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Statistics, University of Reading,

    M. L. TIKU

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  1. M. L. TIKU
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TIKU, M. Distribution of the Derivative of the Likelihood Function. Nature 210, 766 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/210766a0

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  • Issue date: 14 May 1966

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/210766a0

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