Related papers: Solving the Likelihood Equations
In exploratory factor analysis, model parameters are usually estimated by maximum likelihood method. The maximum likelihood estimate is obtained by solving a complicated multivariate algebraic equation. Since the solution to the equation is…
Most statistical software packages implement numerical strategies for computation of maximum likelihood estimates in random effects models. Little is known, however, about the algebraic complexity of this problem. For the one-way layout…
This paper considers the problem of maximizing multiple linear functions over the probability simplex. A classification of feasible points is indicated. A necessary and sufficient condition for a member of each class to be an efficient…
A composite likelihood is an inference function derived by multiplying a set of likelihood components. This approach provides a flexible framework for drawing inference when the likelihood function of a statistical model is computationally…
Maximum likelihood estimation is a fundamental optimization problem in statistics. We study this problem on manifolds of matrices with bounded rank. These represent mixtures of distributions of two independent discrete random variables. We…
In this Letter, we strengthen and extend the connection between simulation and estimation to exploit simulation routines that do not exactly compute the probability of experimental data, known as the likelihood function. Rather, we provide…
A fundamental problem arising in many areas of machine learning is the evaluation of the likelihood of a given observation under different nominal distributions. Frequently, these nominal distributions are themselves estimated from data,…
Maximum likelihood estimation in statistics leads to the problem of maximizing a product of powers of polynomials. We study the algebraic degree of the critical equations of this optimization problem. This degree is related to the number of…
Seemingly unrelated regressions are statistical regression models based on the Gaussian distribution. They are popular in econometrics but also arise in graphical modeling of multivariate dependencies. In maximum likelihood estimation, the…
Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is a fundamental computational problem in statistics. The problem is to maximize the likelihood function with respect to given data on a statistical model. An algebraic approach to this problem is to…
Likelihood functions are ubiquitous in data analyses at the LHC and elsewhere in particle physics. Partly because "probability" and "likelihood" are virtual synonyms in everyday English, but crucially distinct in data analysis, there is…
Various problems in Engineering and Statistics require the computation of the likelihood ratio function of two probability densities. In classical approaches the two densities are assumed known or to belong to some known parametric family.…
Gibbs random fields play an important role in statistics, for example the autologistic model is commonly used to model the spatial distribution of binary variables defined on a lattice. However they are complicated to work with due to an…
We give a numerical algorithm computing Euler obstruction functions using maximum likelihood degrees. The maximum likelihood degree is a well-studied property of a variety in algebraic statistics and computational algebraic geometry. In…
Numerical nonlinear algebra is applied to maximum likelihood estimation for Gaussian models defined by linear constraints on the covariance matrix. We examine the generic case as well as special models (e.g. Toeplitz, sparse, trees) that…
Dynamical models of cognition play an increasingly important role in driving theoretical and experimental research in psychology. Therefore, parameter estimation, model analysis and comparison of dynamical models are of essential…
Given a statistical model, the maximum likelihood degree is the number of complex solutions to the likelihood equations for generic data. We consider discrete algebraic statistical models and study the solutions to the likelihood equations…
The likelihood function represents statistical evidence in the context of data and a probability model. Considerable theory has demonstrated that evidence strength for different parameter values can be interpreted from the ratio of…
The likelihood function is a fundamental component in Bayesian statistics. However, evaluating the likelihood of an observation is computationally intractable in many applications. In this paper, we propose a non-parametric approximation of…
The likelihood function plays a pivotal role in statistical inference; it is adaptable to a wide range of models and the resultant estimators are known to have good properties. However, these results hinge on correct specification of the…