Bartlett correction 2026-10-14
A Bartlett correction rescales a regular likelihood-ratio test statistic so that its null expected value matches its limiting chi-squared degrees of freedom to a higher asymptotic order. If , divide by . The operation uses a model-specific Bartlett correction coefficient; matching the mean alone is not a general proof of any claimed distributional error rate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 44 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume , so the residual sum of squares is positive almost surely. Write and . The log-likelihood isThe decomposition shows that, at every fixed positive variance, its constrained maximum-likelihood estimate of the mean is . Substituting this mean and differentiating with respect to the variance givesThe denominator is required by maximum likelihood estimation; is the unbiased variance estimate, which is a different estimator.
Under the null variance , maximize over the same mean . Subtracting the null maximum log-likelihood from the unrestricted maximum gives the likelihood-ratio test statisticBy Cochran's theorem, the residual sum of squares in a normal sample satisfies under the null. Set , so . ThenThe normal mean is a nuisance parameter, but this null law does not depend on it.
A Bartlett correction removes the first-order discrepancy between the null mean of a regular likelihood-ratio test statistic and the degrees of freedom of its limiting chi-squared distribution. In the convention used here, if the limiting degrees of freedom are andthen is the Bartlett correction coefficient, also called the Bartlett correction factor, and the Bartlett-corrected likelihood-ratio statistic is . Its null mean is . The finite- divisor is , rather than itself. There is one restriction on the variance here, so .
Expand the logarithm around and use the permitted termwise asymptotic integration:Using the supplied raw moments of the chi-squared distribution and expanding givesFor instance, and give the first formula after subtracting . The same binomial expansion, using the raw third and fourth moments, gives the other two formulas.
We must justify why higher moments cannot change the coefficient. Represent for independent standard normal variables, and put . Each is centered and has all absolute moments finite. With , one has . The supplied centered-sum bounds say, for each fixed integer ,Also and . Therefore, for every fixed , expanding givesThese are bounds on the absolute values of signed moments; the odd-moment estimate must not be misread as a bound on . In particular, each fixed Taylor term of degree has or smaller. Combined with the question's permission to integrate the asymptotic expansion term by term, this controls the higher-order contribution at the required order. It does not require a globally convergent Taylor series for every realized .
Substituting the first three moment formulas now givesThus the Bartlett correction for a normal variance with unknown mean isIts null mean is , and the usual reference law is . Keeping the estimated mean's loss of one residual degree of freedom, and using the maximum-likelihood variance divisor , are both essential to the coefficient .