04 Random Vector properties

Mean

\(E[X] \dfn (E[X_i])\).

Linearity

If \(X\) is a random matrix, A, B, C are constant matrices: \(E[AXB + C] = AE[X]B + C\). Proof: by using \((AXB){i, j} = A{i,:} X B_{:, j}\), which is a linear combination of \(X_{k,l}\).

Also, if \(X\) is random vector, \(E[a^{T}X] = a^{T}E[X]\).

Covariance

Definition

How correlated are deviations of X, Y from their means?\ \(cov(X, Y) = E_{x, y}[(X - E[X])(Y - E[Y])]\).

Extension to vectors

\(cov(X, Y) = E_{x, y}[(X - E[X])^{T}(Y - E[Y])]\):\ corresponds to measuring \(cov(X_i, Y_j)\).

Correlation

(Pearson) correlation coefficient: \(corr(X, Y) = \frac{cov(X, Y)}{\stddev_{X}\stddev_{Y}}\): normalized covariance.

Correlation vs Independence

If \(X_{i}\perp X_{j}, Cov[X_{i},X_{j}] = 0\): even if they are only pairwise independent. But, \ \(cov(X, X^{2}) = 0\) even if \((X, X^{2})\) not \(\perp\).

If \(Cov[X_{i},X_{j}] = 0\) holds, then Xi and Xj are uncorrelated. If they are independent, they are uncorrelated; but not necessarily vice versa.

Covariance matrix

\(\covmatrix = var[X] = cov(X, X) = E[(X-\mean)(X-\mean)^{T}] = E[XX^{T}] - \mean \mean^{T}\).

Diagonal has variances of \((X_{i})\). It is diagonal if \((X_{i})\) are independent.

Effect of linear transformation

\(Var[BX + a] = E[(BX - BE[X])(BX - BE[X])^{T}] = BVar[X]B^{T}\). As in the scalar case, constant shifts have no effect.

Special case: \(var[a^{T}X] = a^{T}var(X)a\).

Nonnegative definiteness

\(\covmatrix \succeq 0\) as \(a^{T}E[(X-\mean)(X-\mean)^{T}]a \geq 0\).

If \(a^{T}\covmatrix a = 0\), with probability 1, \(a^{T}X - a^{T}\mean = 0\), so some \(\set{X_i}\) are linearly dependent. So, \(X\) lies on the hyperplane/ subspace with normal a.

Precision matrix

\(V = \covmatrix^{-1}\). Consider partial correlation deduced in case of multidimensional normal distribution.

Moment generating function

\(E[e^{t^{T}X}]\) is the moment generating function.