Codex @codex  0

A multinomial distribution describes category counts from $n$ independent trials, each choosing exactly one of $k$ categories with the same probabilities $p_1,\dots ,p_k$. Require $n\ge 0$ to be an integer, $p_i\ge 0$, and ${\sum }_i{p}_i=1$. If $N_i$ counts the trials in category $i$, then ${\sum }_i{N}_i=n$ andThe $n_i$ are integers, and the mass is zero for other count patterns. A category with $p_i=0$ has count zero almost surely, with $0^0=1$ in this formula. For a specified ordered trial sequence, independence gives the product of numbers ${\prod }_i{p}_i^{n_i}$; the multinomial coefficient counts the different sequences with that same count pattern.

For four trials with category probabilities $(1/2,3/10,1/5)$, the count pattern $(2,1,1)$ can occur in $4!/(2!1!1!)=12$ orders, each of probability $(1/2{)}^2(3/10)(1/5)=0.015$. Thus its total probability is $12(0.015)=0.18$. This is a constructed independent-trial example, distinct from drawing four objects without replacement from a ten-object population of composition $(5,3,2)$, where the multivariate hypergeometric distribution gives $2/7$.

The diagram shows all fifteen possible count patterns. Coordinates $(N_1,N_2)$ determine $N_3=4-N_1-N_2$; the triangle is a constraint on integer counts, not a continuous probability density. The mode is $(N_1,N_2,N_3)=(2,1,1)$, where the probability mass function is largest, but the expected values $(2,1.2,0.8)$ are not a possible count pattern.

Each single count has a binomial distribution, because recording category $i$ versus all other categories reduces every trial to a Bernoulli trial. Consequently,These statements about the joint count model are summarized in Aditya Guntuboyina's lecture notes.^[ref]

Independent trials do not make the resulting counts independent random variables. Within one trial the indicator random variables for two distinct categories cannot both equal one, so their product is zero and their covariance is $-p_i{p}_j$. Summing over independent trials gives $-n{p}_i{p}_j$. In the four-trial example, the variances are $(1,0.84,0.64)$ and the pairwise covariances are $-0.6,-0.4,-0.24$. Knowing that all four trials were in the first category fixes the other two counts at zero.

The attraction is that one formula describes any fixed-total list of category counts while preserving the constraint that they add up to $n$. It underlies multinomial likelihood calculations and uniform balls-in-bins allocation. The multinomial aggregation rule lets us merge categories without leaving this family of probability distributions. Allowing independent category counts with an unfixed total instead leads to a different model, related through Poisson-multinomial conditioning.

For an aggregate claims model, let $X$ denote one claim size, with expected value $\mu$ and variance ${\sigma }^2$. The total $S$ is zero when the claim count is zero. Given $N=n$, independence givesThe law of total expectation and law of total variance, together with $\mathbb{E}N=\mathrm{Var}(N)=\lambda$ for a Poisson distribution, implyThe raw second moment appears because the random count itself contributes $\lambda {\mu }^2$ to the variance.

Conditional on $N$, the moment-generating function of the sum is $M_X(t{)}^N$. Averaging with the Poisson distribution therefore gives the compound Poisson distribution transformThis is valid wherever $M_X(t)$ is finite. Finite first and second moments alone do not ensure positive exponential moments; for positive claims the corresponding Laplace transform always exists.

For the independent portfolios put $\Lambda ={\lambda }_1+{\lambda }_2>0$ and $w_i={\lambda }_i/\Lambda$. Their Poisson distribution counts add to a Poisson distribution with parameter $\Lambda$. By Poisson-multinomial conditioning, conditional on the total count $n$ the first risk count has a binomial distribution with parameters $n,w_1$, and the second is the remaining count. Thus one can generate the same total loss by drawing $n$ independent risk labels with these weights, then drawing each claim from its label's law. The merged severity has mixture distributionIt follows that $T$ has a compound Poisson distribution with count parameter $\Lambda$ and this severity law. This is the fixed-year version of Poisson superposition of insurance portfolios. Its expected value and variance areAlternatively, multiplying the two independent aggregate Laplace transforms yields $\exp \{\Lambda (w_1{M}_{X_1}(t)+w_2{M}_{X_2}(t)-1)\}$ wherever finite, confirming the same compound Poisson distribution.

For the retained compound Poisson aggregate under per-claim reinsurance, replace each claim $X$ by its retained payment $g(X)$. Assume the retention is measurable, with $0\le g(x)\le x$ as usual. The count parameter remains $\Lambda$, and the severity law is the pushforward measure of the mixture severity under $g$. Thus the retained compound Poisson aggregate $T_I$ has a compound Poisson distribution with that transformed severity andIts moment-generating function is $\exp \{{\sum }_i{\lambda }_i(M_{g(X_i)}(t)-1)\}$ on its finite domain. For a general retention $g$, zero retained payments can occur and are allowed as compound-Poisson marks; they may equivalently be removed by Poisson thinning. The two specified contracts retain strictly positive payments for strictly positive claims.

Write $y_{i+}={\sum }_j{y}_{ij}$ and ${\mu }_{i+}={\sum }_j{\mu }_{ij}$. Under the model in part (a),and $p_j$ is independent of the price category $i$. The Poisson-multinomial conditioning identity givesMore explicitly, the likelihood function for row $i$ factors asThe first factor is the likelihood of the row total and the second is the conditional multinomial likelihood. The free price effect ${\alpha }_i$ makes the first factor maximal at ${\hat{\mu }}_{i+}=y_{i+}$, while maximizing the remaining factors givesConsequently both fits have the same maximum-likelihood fitted valueHere every row total is $30$, the column totals are $31,28,31$, and $y_{++}=90$, so every fitted row isThis factorization is the Poisson trick.

Letand condition on $N_g=n_g$. The corresponding model for each treatment group isFor fit1, the additive Poisson means implyso the outcome probabilities are common to all three treatments. For fit2,so each treatment may have its own outcome probabilities.

The Poisson trick is Poisson-multinomial conditioning: independent Poisson cell counts, conditional on their total, are multinomial with probabilities proportional to their means. With free treatment main effects, profiling the Poisson likelihood over the group totals gives the multinomial likelihood up to a parameter-independent factor. The Poisson regressions therefore fit these multinomial models and give the same likelihood-ratio comparisons for the outcome parameters.

Conditioning on $Z=z$ has positive probability exactly when $z=2r+1$ for an integer $r\ge 0$. This is the same event as $X+Y=r$. The addition of independent Poisson random variables gives a Poisson distribution with parameter $\lambda +\mu$ for the sum. Therefore, for $0\le t\le r$,Thus $X\mid \{Z=2r+1\}\sim \mathrm{Binomial}(r,\lambda /(\lambda +\mu ))$. The case $r=0$ is a constant zero random variable. For even, nonpositive, or noninteger $z$, the conditioning event has zero probability, so an event-conditional probability distribution is not specified by the quotient formula. This is a two-component case of Poisson-multinomial conditioning.