Wednesday, 24 July 2013

probability - Expectation of Independent Variables Equals Zero?



Given n independent random variables, X1,X2,...,Xn , each having a normal distribution, why is it that the following expectation holds?



E[(Xiμ)(Xjμ)]=0



where ij



I saw this statement in a proof explaining why we divide by n1 when computing the sample variance and of course there was no explanation. An intuitive explanation and/or a link to more detailed information about why this is true would be greatly appreciated



Answer



Since the random variables are independent, E[(Xiμ)(Xjμ)]=E[Xiμ]E[Xjμ]=(E[Xi]μ)(E[Xj]μ)=(μμ)(μμ)=00=0.


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