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Asymptotic Methods in Statistical Inference - Statistics Centre

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231<br />

• The error of Saddlepo<strong>in</strong>t<br />

<br />

()is ³ −1´<br />

for each .<br />

In contrast, the normal and Edgeworth approximations<br />

achieve this same degree of accuracy µ only <br />

at the mean, i.e. = 0 = (with 0 − 3 √ <br />

=<br />

0):<br />

Edgeworth<br />

<br />

and<br />

Normal<br />

<br />

( 0 )= Normal<br />

<br />

( 0 ) · ³<br />

1+ ³ −1´´<br />

( 0 )= exact<br />

<br />

( 0 ) · ³1+ ³ −1´´ <br />

• The saddlepo<strong>in</strong>t approximation method has been<br />

extended to quite general statistics — M-estimators,<br />

for example — and often yields fantastically accurate<br />

approximations, even for as small as 2.<br />

For this reason the technique is sometimes called<br />

‘small sample asymptotics’. A detailed development<br />

is given <strong>in</strong> the IMS monograph of this name,<br />

by C. Field and E. Ronchetti.

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