Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 3 5J Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
The log density isIts kink occurs at the unknown location , so its parameter dependence cannot be separated into a fixed finite-dimensional statistic of and the smooth canonical form required of an exponential dispersion family. Thus the two-parameter location-scale Laplace distribution is not such a family.
For independent observations, the log-likelihood isFor every fixed , maximizing this expression in is equivalent to minimizing . Hencethe least absolute deviations estimator. At this value,so, in the nondegenerate case ,
Rayleigh-normal scale mixture 2026-10-06
An independent unit-scale Rayleigh distribution variable and standard normal distribution variable give with Laplace distribution of density . Indeed its characteristic function is .