Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 223 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Put . The standardized efficient score function for scale isAn optimal B-robust scale M-estimator solveswhere the optimal bounded score has the clipped-score formThe constants enforce Fisher consistency, the chosen normalization, and the clipping bound on the influence function.
For the standard normal distribution, , hence . The score therefore simplifies towith chosen so that for .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ii Paper 2 5L Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Put . Apart from a factor independent of , the likelihood isThus the score function and Fisher information matrix are
The Newton method and Fisher scoring updates are respectivelySince , initialization at requires zero steps for either algorithm. Moreover,so binomial-proportion Fisher scoring reaches the MLE in one step from every interior .
A statistical functional is pathwise differentiable relative to chosen statistical paths if its derivative along every path depends only on that path's score function and defines a bounded linear functional on their statistical tangent space. The Riesz representation theorem expresses this derivative as an L2 inner product with a unique element of the statistical tangent space, the canonical gradient. A path family and the associated derivative remainder conditions must both be specified; a formal derivative along one convenient family does not establish differentiability along all paths.
Schoenfeld function 2026-10-06
At a distinct event time, the Schoenfeld function is the event subject's covariate minus the hazard-weighted covariate mean over the risk set, as a function of a trial coefficient . Its evaluation at the fitted coefficient is a Schoenfeld residual. The sum of these functions is the Cox partial likelihood score function, and each is conditionally centered at zero at the true proportional-hazards coefficient.
Score equation Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-07
A score equation sets the score function equal to zero. Its solutions are stationary points of the log-likelihood, and a negative-definite likelihood Hessian identifies an interior local maximum.
A perturbation can have negligible Hellinger distance but a large integral of its density's fourth power. At the uniform density on , let on and zero elsewhere, and let . Then and , so the score function is zero. However . Thus the density fourth-power functional is not continuous along this differentiable-in-quadratic-mean path, despite a bounded baseline and individually bounded nearby densities.
Statistical path 2026-10-07
A statistical path is a one-dimensional family of probability measures inside a statistical model, passing through a specified baseline . A differentiability in quadratic mean condition gives its score function, the first-order direction of the family in square-root-density coordinates. The path must respect all restrictions of the statistical model, including normalization and any fixed moments.
Statistical tangent set 2026-10-07
A statistical tangent set is the collection of score functions attained by a specified family of differentiable-in-quadratic-mean paths through . The choice of paths is part of the definition. Its elements lie in the mean-zero L2 space, but the set need not already be a closed vector subspace.
Statistical tangent space 2026-10-07
The statistical tangent space is the closed linear span in L2 space of a statistical tangent set. Taking this closure makes orthogonal projection available and ensures that a continuous derivative specified on attainable score functions extends to the whole space.