Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / iii / Paper 207 / 6 / v

For the exponential distribution with mean $\mu$, $f_A(t)=F_A(t)/\mu$ and $F_A(t)=e^{-t/\mu }$. ThereforeSince ties have probability zero, $\mathbb{P}(X=T_B)=1-\mathbb{E}X/\mu$. Taking expected values in the definition of $U$ givesThere is also an imputation interpretation. If A is observed first, $T_A=X$; if B censors A, memorylessness of the exponential distribution and independence imply that the remaining mean lifetime is $\mu$. Thus $U$ is the conditional expectation of $T_A$ given the observed minimum and censoring indicator. The tower property of conditional expectation gives the same equality. This does not say that $U$ and $T_A$ have the same distribution.