Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-options-i-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2010/o/o1/a/solution

Each before/after pair concerns the same individual, so subject-specific baseline blood pressure can affect both measurements. Analyzing the within-person difference retains this pairing and removes a common baseline contribution. Under the stated independent normal-difference model,
The normal-sample variance identity gives
Moreover and are independent, because the sample-mean projection and centered residual projection of a Gaussian vector are orthogonal and hence independent. Thus the standardized normal variable is independent of . Consequently
This distribution is free of both unknown parameters.

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