English

Statistical estimation requires unbounded memory

Computation 2011-10-28 v2

Abstract

We investigate the existence of bounded-memory consistent estimators of various statistical functionals. This question is resolved in the negative in a rather strong sense. We propose various bounded-memory approximations, using techniques from automata theory and stochastic processes. Some questions of potential interest are raised for future work.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0907.1997,
  title  = {Statistical estimation requires unbounded memory},
  author = {Leonid and Kontorovich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0907.1997},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

this is an old version, with a mistake in the proof of Thm. 6.1. Please see my homepage for an updated version

R2 v1 2026-06-21T13:24:00.199Z