For independent binary edges with log odds , the natural statistics are the sum of the vertex degrees in each class and the total number of within-class edges. They form a minimal sufficient statistic whenever the natural parameter space contains an open subset of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 4 27J Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 19H c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Write , and . The joint probability density factors asBy the Fisher-Neyman factorization theorem, is a sufficient statistic. The same factorization shows that the smaller statistic is also a sufficient statistic. This gives the sufficient statistic for a symmetric uniform sample.
In fact, the likelihood-ratio criterion for minimal sufficiency identifies as a minimal sufficient statistic: two sample points with the same have identical likelihoods for all ; with different , their likelihoods have different parameter supports, and so are not proportional as functions of . Equivalently, the condition that for every and some positive constant holds exactly when their absolute maxima agree.
To see rigorously that cannot be recovered from almost surely, fix any . The sample has a distribution invariant under simultaneous sign reversal. If almost surely, the same identity would hold for the sign-reversed sample on another probability-one set. Since is unchanged by sign reversal, it would follow thatand hence almost surely. But this event has probability zero for a finite sample from a continuous uniform distribution: it entails for some pair of indices, including the possible case . Therefore is not a function of the sufficient statistic . The pair of extrema is not minimally sufficient, for every , even though it is sufficient.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 1 19H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
A sufficient statistic has a conditional distribution of the full data given its value that is independent of the unknown parameter. A minimal sufficient statistic is sufficient and is a function of every other sufficient statistic, up to null sets. For a dominated family with common positive support, the likelihood-ratio criterion for minimal sufficiency states that is minimal sufficient if holds exactly when is independent of .
For , the joint probability mass function isThe Fisher-Neyman factorization theorem proves sufficiency of . For two samples, the likelihood ratio is , independent of exactly when their sums agree. Thus is minimal sufficient. Any one-to-one transformation of it is also minimal sufficient, so chooseThis chosen estimator is an unbiased estimator, since each observation has mean . If instead the statistic is reported as , its expectation is , and as an estimator of it has bias (zero only when ). Being a minimal sufficient statistic is unchanged by this rescaling; being an unbiased estimator is not.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ib Paper 1 19H b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
A statistic is sufficient for if the conditional distribution of the full sample given does not depend on . It is minimal sufficient if it is a function of every sufficient statistic.
The likelihood factors asso the Fisher-Neyman factorization theorem shows that , and hence its one-to-one transform , is sufficient. Moreover, for two samples and , the ratio is independent of exactly when their maxima agree. The likelihood-ratio criterion for minimal sufficiency therefore shows that and are minimal sufficient.
For , the sample mean is not sufficient: two samples can have the same mean but different maxima, and their likelihood ratio then depends on through the support indicators. It is consequently not minimal sufficient. For the degenerate special case , the sample mean and maximum coincide and both conclusions reverse.
For independent samples uniform on with , the absolute maximum is a minimal sufficient statistic, since the likelihood is . The pair of sample minimum and maximum is a sufficient statistic but is not minimal: simultaneous sign reversal preserves and generally changes that pair.