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This paper concerns a new Normal approximation to the beta distribution and its relatives, in particular, the binomial, Pascal, negative binomial, F, t, Poisson, gamma, and chi square distributions. The approximate Normal deviates are expressible in terms of algebraic functions and logarithms, but for desk calculation it is preferable in most cases to use an equivalent expression in terms of a function specially tabulated here. Graphs of the error arc provided. They show that the approximation is good even in the extreme tails except for beta distributions which are J or U shaped or nearly so, and they permit correction to obtain still more accuracy. For use beyond the range of the graphs, some standard recursive relations and some classical continued fractions are listed, with some properties of the latter which seem to be partly new. Various Normal approximations are compared, with further graphs. The new approximation appears far more accurate than the others. Everything an ordinary user of the approximation might want to know is included in this paper. The theory behind the approximation and most proofs are postponed to a second paper immediately following this one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several approximations to the binomial distribution were compared in 1956 by Raft [9], including the normal, arcsine, normal Gram-Charlier, Camp-Paulson, Poisson, and Poisson Gram-Charlier approximations. The closeness of these approximations is judged by the maximal error which can arise in evaluating any sum of consecutive binomial terms. Borges [3] investigated a general class of approximations (which includes some of the above) and showed that a certain beta-transformation of a binomially distributed variable is the unique member of this class which is approximately normal with error 0(l/n). In 1963, Bol'shev [2] gave two new Poisson-type approximations. In this paper, some of Raft's tables are extended and tables for the error of these newer approximations are added. As a consequence of the numerical results obtained, the Poisson Gram-Charlier approximation is recommended for small values of p while the Camp-Paulson and Borges' approximations should generally be preferred for large p. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let X[sub 1], ... X[sub r], be independent B(n,p) random variables. In this paper n is estimated with known p. The MLE is developed and shown to be consistent in a relative sense and asymptotically normal. Motivated by Y[sub i] = X[sub i]/q we consider Y[sub 1], ... ,Y[sub r] independent N(mu, mu) and examine three estimates of mu; (i) the MVUE, (ii) the MLE, and (iii) ?. These are shown to be asymptotically equivalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the modified method of moments is applied to obtain an estimator of the parameter of a doubly truncated binomial distribution. The estimator is obtained in terms of the first three sample moments. Further, the efficiency of this estimator relative to the maximum likelihood estimator is also given here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the classification of the elements in a binomial population, there is in many cases a chance of misclassifying an item. When an item in a sample from a binomial population is misclassified, it causes a bias, independent of the standard error, in the estimate of the population parameter P. This paper analyzes this bias when each of two interviewers independently classify the items in a single sample. Upper and lower bounds for the bias are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results are developed for play-the-winner sampling for choosing the better of two binomial populations when the maximum number of tests is specified. It is shown that for a fixed number of tests the probability of correct selection with alternating assignment exceeds that for play- the-winner sampling. However, when the probability of correct selection is fixed, neither sampling method is uniformly better than the other as measured by the expected number of tests on the poorer population, or on the total expected number of tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]