What does it mean to say that X1,X2X1,X2 have a "common" Normal distribution?

机器算法验证 probability random-variable heavy-tailed
2022-03-29 12:14:08

An exercise question asks

Let X1,X2N(0,1)Corr(X1,X2)=ρρ[1,1]

What does it mean with it says they have a "common" Normal distribution?

My first thought was that they meant both X1X2N(0,1)

So I am left to believe that by "common" Normal distribution, they mean the bivariate Normal distribution?

3个回答

It means that two things are true.

First:

P(X1<t)=P(X2<t)

for all real numbers tX1X2

Second:

P(X1<t)=1σ2πte(xμ)22σ2dx

for some fixed numbers μσX1

This doesn't imply that (X1,X2)

(*) Given the first condition, this implies that the distribution of X2

I think "common" here just means that the marginal distribution N(0,1) is common to both random variables (i.e., they have the same marginal distribution). Although technically this is insufficient to give a bivariate normal distribution, I think the writer probably intended that form:

[XY]N([00],[1ρρ1]).

That specification would yield common marginal distributions XN(0,1) and YN(0,1). If I were you, I would suggest noting this technicality, and then proceed on the basis that the random variables are bivariate normal. You might want to note the issue again as a caveat once you give your answer.

The exercise is badly phrased. I suspect what is meant is that the two random variables are jointly normal and have a common distribution. If they're separately normal but not jointly normal, then you don't have enough information to answer the question. If my suspicion is right, then the exercise should have said they are jointly normal.

To have a "common" distribution simply means they both have the same distribution. Thus:

[X1X2]N([μ1μ2],[σ12ρσ1σ2ρσ1σ2σ22]) not common[X1X2]N([μμ],[σ2ρσ2ρσ2σ2]) common
XiN(μ,σ2)i=1,2,