For , with unit exponential distribution and , the survivor functions are for . These are time-scaled Fréchet distributions, so they form an accelerated life family. However their hazard ratio is , tending to zero as and to one as . It is not constant. Thus a positive-scale assumption matters when deriving a proportional hazards family from the usual log-location-scale model.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 41 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Two event-time distributions form an accelerated life family if one is a positive time rescaling of the other: for some . They form a proportional hazards family if their hazard functions satisfy for a constant , equivalently for continuous distributions.
First take the standard positive-scale convention . Write , retaining the question's survivor notation rather than interpreting as a cumulative distribution. Since ,It follows that , proving the accelerated life family property with time multiplier . In fact the scaling identity holds for any fixed real .
The given density integrates to , so has the unit exponential distribution. Its survivor is . ConsequentlyandThese are the Weibull accelerated-life and proportional-hazards families, with common shape .
The positive-scale assumption is necessary for this last conclusion and is not explicit in the printed description of the constants. If , the transformation reverses the inequality, giving with ; for continuous this is . For the given density these are scaled Fréchet distributions, generally not proportional hazards. The negative log-scale counterexample to proportional hazards uses and has hazard ratio , which depends on time. If , is deterministic, with survivor , so an ordinary density-based hazard does not apply. These cases preserve the accelerated-life identity but do not prove the asserted proportional-hazards conclusion.
Weibull distributions with a common shape form both an accelerated life family and a proportional hazards family. Their hazard functions are , whose ratio is . Their time multiplier is . In the representation with and density for , the parameters are and , giving time multiplier and hazard multiplier .