Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/iii/paper-41/5/solution

Let denote the observed data, the unobserved data and the model parameters. The expectation-maximization algorithm works with the complete-data log-likelihood . Given , its E-step computes
where the conditional expectation uses the old parameter, while remains the argument to maximize. Its M-step chooses maximizing this function over the parameter space. EM likelihood monotonicity ensures that an M-step increasing cannot decrease the observed-data log-likelihood. It does not guarantee a global maximum, so convergence and any parameter constraints must still be checked.

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