Additivity of independent gamma distributions with a common rate Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
If independent random variables have gamma distributions with shapes and one common rate , then
Their Laplace transforms of nonnegative random variables multiply to , which is the transform of the displayed gamma distribution; uniqueness of the Laplace transform proves the claim.
Beta-gamma independence 2026-10-06
If and are independent random variables with Gamma distributions of shapes and the same rate , then has the Beta distribution with parameters , and has the Gamma distribution of shape and rate . Moreover and are independent. The inverse change of variables has absolute Jacobian determinant , which makes the joint probability density factorize on the product domain , . The common rate is essential for this factorization.
A nonnegative mean-reverting short-rate diffusion with positive parameters. Its mean-reversion level is and its diffusion size is proportional to . The Feller positivity condition for the CIR model controls whether zero is reachable. Its stationary law is a gamma distribution and its zero-coupon bond prices are exponential-affine.
On , consider with , zero scalar flux at the endpoints for , and unit initial impulse at the origin. Put and . The normalized similarity solution is
The ansatz gives . Endpoint decay sets this integrated constant to zero and hence ; the gamma function normalizes its integral to one. Its scale is , so it converges weakly to a unit impulse as . Its gamma distribution shape is , its maximum occurs at , and its expected value is . For width proportional to , the associated horizontally averaged plume concentration is proportional to : its interior maximum is when , its supremum occurs at the origin when , and it is singular there when . The physical finite source regularizes this ideal-origin behaviour.
For independent Poisson distributions with means and a shape–rate Gamma distribution prior on , integrating adds to the total-count exponent and to the sum of relative rates. This distinguishes gamma mixing from conditioning on the total count, which gives a multinomial distribution.
If has gamma distribution with shape and rate , has Poisson distribution with intensity , and the independent claim sizes have exponential distribution of mean , where , the aggregate law is . This follows by expanding its moment-generating function as .
A Gamma–Poisson hierarchical model uses , , and , with gamma distributions in shape-rate convention. Conditional independence gives full conditional distributions and .
Conditionally independent gamma distributions with known shape and unknown rate have likelihood proportional to . A gamma distribution prior of shape and rate therefore updates to shape and rate . When , the posterior mean of the conditional claim mean is . For and , this is a credibility estimate with weight . It is the reciprocal-rate version of gamma scale inverse-gamma conjugacy.
Gamma scale inverse-gamma conjugacy Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
For conditionally independent gamma distribution observations of known shape and unknown scale , an inverse-gamma distribution prior with shape and scale gives an inverse-gamma distribution posterior with shape and scale . The posterior mean of the conditional claim expected value is when the denominator is positive.
Let the summands have gamma distribution with shape two and rate , and let the independent positive-support geometric distribution count have parameter . Put and . The aggregate moment-generating function factors as , so it is the sum of two independent exponential distributions of rates . Its probability density function is for , nonnegative and integrating to one. This contrasts with the geometric sum of exponential variables, which is itself exponential.
For the Gamma distribution with fixed positive integer shape and rate one, the survival function is . Its sample maximum centered by has convergence in distribution to the standard Gumbel distribution, without an additional scale factor.
Hypoexponential distribution Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
A hypoexponential distribution is the distribution of a sum of independent variables with exponential distributions. For two positive unequal rates , convolution of independent random variables gives the probability density function
It is zero for negative . Its equal-rate limit is the shape-two gamma distribution with rate .
Inverse-gamma distribution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-09-29
An inverse-gamma random variable is the reciprocal of a gamma distribution random variable up to scale. In shape-scale parameters its density is proportional to on .
Normal-gamma posterior with a flat prior Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , let the prior distribution of the precision be the shape-rate Gamma distribution , and use a constant improper prior for . Assume has zero null space. Write , , , , and . The proper joint posterior density is proportional to
Its conditional distributions are and . Its marginal precision law is . Integration of the displayed kernel gives , proving propriety despite the improper prior.
A joint maximum a posteriori estimate relative to exists exactly when , and is . If , the supremum is approached at but not attained; if , the density is unbounded there. Separate marginal maximization gives for the unknown and for the precision when . This illustrates that joint and marginal modes need not agree, and that a proper posterior distribution need not have a mode in its open parameter space.