| Version: | 1.0.0 |
| Title: | Moment-Matching Approximation for t-Distribution Differences |
| Description: | Implements the moment-matching approximation for differences of non-standardized t-distributed random variables in both univariate and multivariate settings. The package provides density, distribution function, quantile function, and random generation for the approximated distributions of t-differences. The methodology establishes the univariate approximated distributions through the systematic matching of the first, second, and fourth moments, and extends it to multivariate cases, considering both scenarios of independent components and the more general multivariate t-distributions with arbitrary dependence structures. Methods build on the classical moment-matching approximation method (e.g., Casella and Berger (2024) <doi:10.1201/9781003456285>). |
| License: | MIT + file LICENSE |
| Encoding: | UTF-8 |
| RoxygenNote: | 7.3.3 |
| Depends: | R (≥ 3.5.0) |
| Imports: | stats, mvtnorm |
| Suggests: | testthat (≥ 3.0.0), knitr, rmarkdown |
| VignetteBuilder: | knitr |
| NeedsCompilation: | no |
| Packaged: | 2026-01-23 17:36:41 UTC; API18340 |
| Author: | Yusuke Yamaguchi [aut, cre] |
| Maintainer: | Yusuke Yamaguchi <yamagubed@gmail.com> |
| Repository: | CRAN |
| Date/Publication: | 2026-01-27 21:30:17 UTC |
Moment-Matching Approximation for General Multivariate t-Differences
Description
Approximates the distribution of differences between two independent multivariate t-distributed random vectors with arbitrary covariance structure.
Usage
mm_tdiff_multivariate_general(mu1, Sigma1, nu1, mu2, Sigma2, nu2)
Arguments
mu1 |
Location vector of first distribution (length p) |
Sigma1 |
Scale matrix of first distribution (p x p, positive definite) |
nu1 |
Degrees of freedom of first distribution (must be > 4) |
mu2 |
Location vector of second distribution (length p) |
Sigma2 |
Scale matrix of second distribution (p x p, positive definite) |
nu2 |
Degrees of freedom of second distribution (must be > 4) |
Details
This function handles the general case where components may be correlated within each multivariate t-distribution. The approximation uses a single scalar degrees of freedom parameter to capture the overall tail behavior.
Note: For high dimensions with heterogeneous component behaviors,
consider using mm_tdiff_multivariate_independent instead.
Value
An S3 object of class "mm_tdiff_multivariate_general" containing:
mu_diff |
Location vector of difference |
Sigma_star |
Scale matrix |
nu_star |
Degrees of freedom (scalar) |
method |
Character string "multivariate_general" |
Examples
Sigma1 <- matrix(c(1, 0.3, 0.3, 1), 2, 2)
Sigma2 <- matrix(c(1.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1.2), 2, 2)
result <- mm_tdiff_multivariate_general(
mu1 = c(0, 1), Sigma1 = Sigma1, nu1 = 10,
mu2 = c(0, 0), Sigma2 = Sigma2, nu2 = 15
)
print(result)
Moment-Matching Approximation for Multivariate t-Differences (Independent)
Description
Approximates the distribution of differences between two independent p-dimensional vectors with independent t-distributed components.
Usage
mm_tdiff_multivariate_independent(mu1, sigma1, nu1, mu2, sigma2, nu2)
Arguments
mu1 |
Location vector of first distribution (length p) |
sigma1 |
Scale vector of first distribution (length p, all > 0) |
nu1 |
Degrees of freedom vector of first distribution (length p, all > 4) |
mu2 |
Location vector of second distribution (length p) |
sigma2 |
Scale vector of second distribution (length p, all > 0) |
nu2 |
Degrees of freedom vector of second distribution (length p, all > 4) |
Details
This function applies the univariate moment-matching approximation component-wise when all components are mutually independent. Each component difference Zj = X1j - X2j is approximated independently using the univariate method.
This approach is optimal for:
Marginal inference on specific components
Cases where components have different tail behaviors
Maintaining computational efficiency in high dimensions
Value
An S3 object of class "mm_tdiff_multivariate_independent" containing:
mu_diff |
Location vector of difference |
sigma_star |
Vector of scale parameters |
nu_star |
Vector of degrees of freedom |
p |
Dimension of the vectors |
method |
Character string "multivariate_independent" |
See Also
mm_tdiff_multivariate_general for correlated components
Examples
result <- mm_tdiff_multivariate_independent(
mu1 = c(0, 1), sigma1 = c(1, 1.5), nu1 = c(10, 12),
mu2 = c(0, 0), sigma2 = c(1.2, 1), nu2 = c(15, 20)
)
print(result)
Moment-Matching Approximation for Univariate t-Differences
Description
Approximates the distribution of the difference between two independent non-standardized t-distributed random variables using the moment-matching method.
Usage
mm_tdiff_univariate(mu1, sigma1, nu1, mu2, sigma2, nu2)
Arguments
mu1 |
Location parameter of first distribution |
sigma1 |
Scale parameter of first distribution (must be > 0) |
nu1 |
Degrees of freedom of first distribution (must be > 4) |
mu2 |
Location parameter of second distribution |
sigma2 |
Scale parameter of second distribution (must be > 0) |
nu2 |
Degrees of freedom of second distribution (must be > 4) |
Details
For two independent non-standardized t-distributed random variables:
X1 ~ t(mu1, sigma1^2, nu1)
X2 ~ t(mu2, sigma2^2, nu2)
The difference Z = X1 - X2 is approximated as: Z ~ t(mu1 - mu2, sigma_star^2, nu_star)
where the effective parameters are computed through moment matching:
sigma_star is derived from the second moment matching
nu_star is derived from the fourth moment matching
The method requires nu1 > 4 and nu2 > 4 for the existence of fourth moments. The approximation quality improves as degrees of freedom increase and approaches exactness as nu -> infinity (normal limit).
Value
An S3 object of class "mm_tdiff_univariate" containing:
mu_diff |
Location parameter of difference (mu1 - mu2) |
sigma_star |
Scale parameter |
nu_star |
Degrees of freedom |
input_params |
List of input parameters for reference |
method |
Character string "univariate" |
References
Yamaguchi, Y., Homma, G., Maruo, K., & Takeda, K. Moment-Matching Approximation for Difference of Non-Standardized t-Distributed Variables. (unpublished).
See Also
dtdiff, ptdiff, qtdiff, rtdiff
for density, distribution function, quantile function, and random generation
respectively
Examples
# Example 1: Different scale parameters
result <- mm_tdiff_univariate(
mu1 = 0, sigma1 = 1, nu1 = 10,
mu2 = 0, sigma2 = 1.5, nu2 = 15
)
print(result)
# Example 2: Equal parameters (special case)
result_equal <- mm_tdiff_univariate(
mu1 = 5, sigma1 = 2, nu1 = 20,
mu2 = 3, sigma2 = 2, nu2 = 20
)
print(result_equal)
Distribution Functions for Multivariate Approximated t-Difference
Description
Distribution Functions for Multivariate Approximated t-Difference
Usage
dmvtdiff(x, mm_result, log = FALSE)
pmvtdiff(q, mm_result, lower.tail = TRUE)
rmvtdiff(n, mm_result)
Arguments
x |
Matrix of quantiles (n x p) or vector for single point |
mm_result |
Result from mm_tdiff_multivariate_general() |
log |
Logical; if TRUE, returns log density |
q |
Vector of quantiles (length p) for cumulative probability |
lower.tail |
Logical; if TRUE (default), probabilities are P(X <= x) |
n |
Number of observations |
Details
These functions implement the distribution functions for the approximated multivariate t-difference based on Theorem 3 from the paper.
**Note on degrees of freedom:**
-
dmvtdiffuses the exact (non-integer) nu_star from the paper -
pmvtdiffrounds nu_star to the nearest integer due to mvtnorm::pmvt requirements. This introduces minimal approximation error when nu_star > 10 (the recommended range). -
rmvtdiffuses the exact (non-integer) nu_star
Value
For dmvtdiff: Numeric vector of density values.
For pmvtdiff: Numeric scalar of cumulative probability.
For rmvtdiff: Matrix of random samples (n x p).
Examples
# Setup
Sigma1 <- matrix(c(1, 0.3, 0.3, 1), 2, 2)
Sigma2 <- matrix(c(1.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1.2), 2, 2)
result <- mm_tdiff_multivariate_general(
mu1 = c(0, 1), Sigma1 = Sigma1, nu1 = 10,
mu2 = c(0, 0), Sigma2 = Sigma2, nu2 = 15
)
# Density at a point
dmvtdiff(c(0, 1), result)
# Density at multiple points
x_mat <- matrix(c(0, 1, -1, 0.5), nrow = 2, byrow = TRUE)
dmvtdiff(x_mat, result)
# Cumulative probability
pmvtdiff(c(0, 1), result)
# Random samples
samples <- rmvtdiff(100, result)
head(samples)
Distribution Functions for Approximated t-Difference
Description
Distribution Functions for Approximated t-Difference
Usage
dtdiff(x, mm_result)
ptdiff(q, mm_result)
qtdiff(p, mm_result)
rtdiff(n, mm_result)
Arguments
x, q |
Vector of quantiles |
mm_result |
Result from mm_tdiff_univariate() |
p |
Vector of probabilities |
n |
Number of observations |
Value
For dtdiff: Numeric vector of density values.
For ptdiff: Numeric vector of cumulative probabilities.
For qtdiff: Numeric vector of quantiles.
For rtdiff: Numeric vector of random samples from the approximated
t-difference distribution.
Examples
result <- mm_tdiff_univariate(0, 1, 10, 0, 1.5, 15)
dtdiff(0, result)
ptdiff(0, result)
qtdiff(c(0.025, 0.975), result)
samples <- rtdiff(100, result)
Validate Moment-Matching Approximation
Description
Validates the approximation quality by comparing moments of the approximated distribution with the theoretical moments.
Usage
validate_approximation(mm_result, n_sim = 10000, seed = NULL)
Arguments
mm_result |
Result from any mm_tdiff function |
n_sim |
Number of simulations for validation (default: 10000) |
seed |
Random seed for reproducibility |
Value
A list containing validation metrics
Examples
result <- mm_tdiff_univariate(0, 1, 10, 0, 1.5, 15)
validation <- validate_approximation(result)
print(validation)