Parameter estimation of a mixture of a Normal and a Uniform distribution
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I am trying to estimate the parameters of a 1d Normal and Uniform distribution mixture based on a given dataset.
I asked the same question on Cross Validated and Stack Overflow for a Python solution: https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/578352/extracting-statistical-parameters-from-a-mixture-of-two-distributions-of-differe
However, a similar Cross Validated question appeared in my search. The following one: https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/173404/modeling-a-mixture-of-a-gaussian-and-uniform-matlab
There, the OP generates a dataset from a normal distribution and a uniform one as:
Data = [5+3*randn(2000,1); unifrnd(-100,100,2000,1)];
where the normal has mean 5 and standard deviation 3. In total, there are 4000 samples. Then, the OP essentially creates the mixture as:
MixPDF = @(x,m,s,weight) (weight*normpdf(x,m,s) + (1-weight)*(1/( max(Data)-min(Data))));
And proceeds to the parameter estimation using MLE:
p = mle(Data, 'pdf', MixPDF, 'start', [0 1 0.5],'lowerbound', [-20 0.1 0], 'upperbound', [20 50 1])
As per the rest of the discussion in that thread, an indicator function is needed in order to ensure the uniform is well behaved. The code given reads:
density = 1/(UL - LL) * indicator(LL <= x <= UL). indicator(LL <= x <= UL)
Questions:
(1) In this example, when trying to implement the indicator function I get errors:
Unrecognized function or variable 'x'.
Error in Normal_Uniform (line 14)
density = 1/(UL - LL) * indicator(LL <= x <= UL). indicator(LL <= x <= UL)
My question is how to correctly implement this function in conjunction with the previous code?
(2) Most importantly I am interested in a similar situation with a dataset b given below which is less "well" behaved. The histogram for this dataset looks like:
![](https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/uploaded_files/1030780/image.png)
It is my belief that indeed this corresponds to a normal and a uniform distribution where I would like to extract the standard deviation of the gaussian and the mixture parameters for each. Assume I know the mean is -2.25 while the uniformdistribution is located between say -2.25 and -1.25 .
However, the code above seems to think that there is 0% mix of the normal one and all I have is a uniform.
How can I adapt this code so that I get something meaningful out of this distribution mixture based on b?
b =[-2.587890625, -2.4765625, -2.427734375, -2.349609375, -1.509765625, -1.79296875, -1.537109375, -1.833984375, -2.212890625, -2.17578125, -1.810546875, -2.859375, -1.720703125, -1.373046875, -1.677734375, -1.84765625, -2.197265625, -2.767578125, -1.921875, -2.26171875, -2.00390625, -1.41015625, -2.52734375, -1.798828125, -2.302734375, -1.46484375, -2.9140625, -2.220703125, -2.4296875, -1.2734375, -1.806640625, -1.484375, -2.966796875, -2.8046875, -1.841796875, -1.572265625, -1.595703125, -1.98046875, -2.330078125, -1.6484375, -2.2890625, -1.515625, -1.666015625, -1.767578125, -1.673828125, -1.564453125, -1.734375, -2.6328125, -2.833984375, -1.564453125, -1.56640625, -2.595703125, -1.50390625, -1.943359375, -1.85546875, -2.041015625, -3.169921875, -1.33984375, -1.498046875, -1.890625, -2.35546875, -1.396484375, -1.49609375, -2.15625, -2.484375, -2.828125, -2.03125, -2.560546875, -2.970703125, -2.548828125, -2.287109375, -2.337890625, -1.537109375, -1.7734375, -2.666015625, -2.1640625, 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1 Comment
Walter Roberson
on 14 Jun 2022
(LL <= x <= UL)
Unless you are using the Symbolic Toolbox, that code would be interpreted as
((LL <= x) <= UL)
The first part would return an array of logical values, each 0 (false) or 1 (true), and it would be the 0 1 that would be tested <= UL
Answers (1)
Jeff Miller
on 14 Jun 2022
Edited: Jeff Miller
on 14 Jun 2022
% Parameters stipulated to be known:
KnownMu = -2.25;
KnownULower = -2.25;
KnownUUpper = -1.25;
% Guesses for the unknown parameters:
GuessSigma = 1;
GuessProbNormal = 0.5;
Theory = Mixture(GuessProbNormal,Normal(KnownMu,GuessSigma),Uniform(KnownULower,KnownUUpper));
b =[-2.587890625, -2.4765625, -2.427734375, -2.349609375, -1.509765625, -1.79296875, -1.537109375, -1.833984375, -2.212890625, -2.17578125, -1.810546875, -2.859375, -1.720703125, -1.373046875, -1.677734375, -1.84765625, -2.197265625, -2.767578125, -1.921875, -2.26171875, -2.00390625, -1.41015625, -2.52734375, -1.798828125, -2.302734375, -1.46484375, -2.9140625, -2.220703125, -2.4296875, -1.2734375, -1.806640625, -1.484375, -2.966796875, -2.8046875, -1.841796875, -1.572265625, -1.595703125, -1.98046875, -2.330078125, -1.6484375, -2.2890625, -1.515625, -1.666015625, -1.767578125, -1.673828125, -1.564453125, -1.734375, -2.6328125, -2.833984375, -1.564453125, -1.56640625, -2.595703125, -1.50390625, -1.943359375, -1.85546875, -2.041015625, -3.169921875, -1.33984375, -1.498046875, -1.890625, -2.35546875, -1.396484375, -1.49609375, -2.15625, -2.484375, -2.828125, -2.03125, -2.560546875, -2.970703125, -2.548828125, -2.287109375, -2.337890625, -1.537109375, -1.7734375, -2.666015625, -2.1640625, 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Theory.EstML(b,'rfrff');
% 'rfrff' means:
% r: adjust mixture probability as a real number
% f: do not adjust normal mean--treat as fixed
% r: adjust normal sigma as a real number
% f: do not adjust lower limit of uniform
% f: do not adjust upper limit of uniform
Theory.StringName
ans =
'Mixture(0.60529,Normal(-2.25,0.47743),0.39471,Uniform(-2.25,-1.25))'
so the maximum likelihood estimates are that about 60% of the scores come from a normal with sigma=0.477 and the rest come from your uniform.
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