Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/ii/paper-1/5j/solution

Independence in the Bernoulli logistic-regression model gives the log-likelihood
Writing , the score function and curvature are
Thus a finite maximum-likelihood estimate solves . If at least one , the curvature is strictly negative for finite , so any such solution is the unique maximizer.
Use the Newton method, which here coincides with Fisher scoring because the second derivative does not depend on the observed responses:
Step damping or a bracket for the monotone score provides reliable numerical convergence. If all covariates are zero the parameter is unidentifiable; if the outcomes are separated in the direction of the covariates, the likelihood supremum may occur at or rather than at a finite estimate.

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