Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ib/paper-3/20h/c/solution

The specified gamma distribution uses shape and rate . Multiplying its density by the Poisson likelihood gives a posterior density proportional to . Thus the conjugate prior calculation gives
For squared-error loss, the posterior expected loss is
It is minimized at the posterior mean, so the Bayes estimator is
For a fresh conditionally independent Poisson observation, the posterior predictive probability of zero is the posterior expectation of . Evaluating the gamma integral gives
The samples are independent conditional on ; integrating out the uncertain common parameter produces the predictive probability above.

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