In a previous post I derived the distribution function for the median of a sample of size n=2k+1 (with k≥0 integer) drawn from a Lorentz (or Cauchy) distribution:
g(x)=n!(k!)2πnγ[π24−arctan2(x−x0γ)]k11+(x−x0γ)2I will now consider some of its properties.
The Figure below shows g(x) with x0=0 and γ=1 for a few values of n:
As the sample size increases, the distribution is more and more localized, as its tails decay faster. The Lorentzian already behaves as x−2 at infinity, and the bracket in front of it adds a factor x−k. For k≥1 the distribution has a first moment: ⟨x⟩=x0, so the median is an unbiased estimator of the position parameter x0. For k≥2 it also has a variance V=⟨(x−x0)2⟩, which quantifies the tightness of the estimation [1]. Following Rider, I'll use the substitution ϕ=arccot(x−x0γ), yielding:
V=n!(k!)2πnγ∫π0dϕγ(1+cot2ϕ)[π2−arctan(x−x0γ)]k[π2+arctan(x−x0γ)]kγ2cot2ϕ1+cot2ϕ=γ22n!(k!)2πn∫π/20dϕϕk(π−ϕ)kcot2ϕ=γ2Ik
where Ik∼83n can be obtained by numerical integration and the standard deviation of the median √V decreases as 1/√n, as per the central limit theorem.
TO DO: I found the behaviour of Ik by inspecting the list of numerical values; try to get a more rigorous result. Compare with the large-n limit π24n.[1] P. R. Rider, Variance of the Median of Samples from a Cauchy Distribution. Journal of the American Statistical Association 55, 322–323 (1960).↩
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