Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 4 13J Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
This is attenuation bias from classical measurement error, also called regression dilution. The latent predictor is , but and are noisy proxies. The noisier proxy produces a slope closer to zero.
For a regression with an intercept, the population slope isHere all variables are centred and the noises are independent. Thereforeso regressing on has slope . Forwe haveThusWith the stated values, the slopes arematching the simulation.
Under this independent additive measurement-error model, the magnitude of the -on- slope is generally smaller than the magnitude of the -on- slope whenever . Increasing does not change the population slope, because response noise contributes neither to nor to . It increases residual variance and the sampling variability of the estimate; with one million observations, doubling it should leave the displayed slope close to while increasing its standard error.