18.338J/16.394J: The Mathematics of Infinite Random Matrices Histogramming Professor Alan edelman Handout #2, Tuesday, September 14, 2004 1 Random Variables and Probability Densities We assume that the reader is familiar with the most basic of facts concerning continuous random variable or is willing to settle for the following sketchy description. Samples from a(univariate or multivariate experiment can be histogrammed either in practice or as a thought experiment. Histogramming counts how many samples fall in a certain interval. Underlying is the notion that there is a probability distribution which precisely represents the probability of falling into an interval If a E R is a real random variable with probability densitypr(t), this means that the probability that a may be found in an interval [a, b] is o pr(t)dt. More generally if S is some subset of R, the probability that r E is sp(t)dt. Later on, we may be more careful and talk about sets that are Lebesgue measurable but this will do for now The probability density is roughly the picture you would obtain if you collected many random values of a and then histogrammed these values. The only problem is that if you have N samples and your bins have size A, then the total area under the boxes is NA not 1 Number found between △/2 Therefore a normalization must occur for the total area under the boxes to equal to l so that the (normalized) histogram and probability densities can line Normal distribution The normal distribution with mean 0 and variance 1(standard normal, Gaussian, "bell shaped curve") the random variable with probability density pr(t)=d-e-t/2. It deserves its special place in probability theory because of the central limit theorerwhich states that if 1,., In,... are iid random variables(iid independent and identically distributed) with mean u and variance o then m Pobla<
� 1 18.338J/16.394J: The Mathematics of Infinite Random Matrices Histogramming Professor Alan Edelman Handout #2, Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Random Variables and Probability Densities We assume that the reader is familiar with the most basic of facts concerning continuous random variables or is willing to settle for the following sketchy description. Samples from a (univariate or multivariate) experiment can be histogrammed either in practice or as a thought experiment. Histogramming counts how many samples fall in a certain interval. Underlying is the notion that there is a probability distribution which precisely represents the probability of falling into an interval. If x ∈ R is a real random variable with probability density px(t), this means that the probability that x � b may be found in an interval [a, b] is a px(t)dt. More generally if S is some subset of R, the probability that x ∈ S is S p(t)dt. Later on, we may be more careful and talk about sets that are Lebesgue measurable, but this will do for now. The probability density is roughly the picture you would obtain if you collected many random values of x and then histogrammed these values. The only problem is that if you have N samples and your bins have size Δ, then the total area under the boxes is NΔ not 1: Number found between x − Δ/2 and x + Δ/2 �Δ� Therefore a normalization must occur for the total area under the boxes to equal to 1 so that the (normalized) histogram and probability densities can line up. Normal distribution The normal distribution with mean 0 and variance 1 (standard normal, Gaussian, “bell shaped curve”) is the random variable with probability density px(t) = √ 1 2π e−t 2/2 . It deserves its special place in probability theory because of the central limit theorem which states that if x1, . . . , xn, . . . are iid random variables (iid = independent and identically distributed) with mean µ and variance σ then 2 � x1 + · · · + xn − n · µ < b � = √ 1 2π � a b e−t /2 lim Prob a < dt . n→∞ √n σ
The central limit theorem roughly states that a large collection of identical random variables behaves like the normal distribution. Many investigations into the eigenvalues of random matrices suggest experimentally that this statement holds, i. e, the eigenvalues of matrices whose elements are not normal behave, more or less, like the eigenvalues of normally distributed matrices It is of value to note that the normal distribution with mean u and variance o has Pr(t) 2 Univariate hi Isograms m数2 In Figure 2, we plot the plot the normal distribution Figure 1: This figure illustrates the idea that the probability density is a histo Code 1 is our MATLAB code to obtain this figure >>a= randn(1,5000);[n,x]=hist(a,[-3:.2:3]); >>bar(x,n/(5000*.2)) hold on, plot(x, exp(-x. 2/2)/sqrt(2*pi)), hold off
The central limit theorem roughly states that a large collection of identical random variables behaves like the normal distribution. Many investigations into the eigenvalues of random matrices suggest experimentally that this statement holds, i.e., the eigenvalues of matrices whose elements are not normal behave, more or less, like the eigenvalues of normally distributed matrices. It is of value to note that the normal distribution with mean µ and variance σ2 has 1 px(t) = σ √2π e−(x−µ)2/2σ2 . 2 Univariate Histograms In Figure 2, we plot the normal distribution as well as a histogram obtained from 5000 samples from the normal distribution We see in the second line of the code below that we divide the counts n by the total number times the bin size: 5000*0.2. This guarantees that the total area of the boxes over the whole line is normalized to 1. -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 Figure 1: This figure illustrates the idea that the probability density is a histogram Code 1 is our MATLAB code to obtain this figure. >> a=randn(1,5000);[n,x]=hist(a,[-3:.2:3]); >> bar(x,n/(5000*.2)); >> hold on,plot(x,exp(-x.^2/2)/sqrt(2*pi)),hold off
Abellcurvem COde 1.1 of Random Eigenvalues by Alan Edelman 7Experiment: Generate random samples from the normal distribution oBservation: Histogram the random samples / Theory Falls on trials=100000: dx= 2 v=randn(1, trials); [count, x]=hist(v, [-4: dx: 41) hold off, b=bar( t/(trials*dx),'y): hold on x=-4:01:4 lot(x, exp(-x. 2/2)/sqrt(2*pi),'LineWidth', 2) is([-440 Code 1 3 How Accurate Are Histograms When playing with Code 1, the reader will happily see that given enough trials the histogram is close to the true bell curve. One can press further and ask how close? Multiple experiments will show that some of the bars may be slightly too high while others slightly too low. There are many experiments which we explore in the exercises to try to understand this more clearly. We will discuss these as the course progresse 4 HISt: rmalized histogram We can incorporate the ideas discussed above into the following MATLAB code
� � � � %bellcurve.m %Code 1.1 of Random Eigenvalues by Alan Edelman %Experiment: Generate random samples from the normal distribution. %Observation: Histogram the random samples. %Theory: Falls on a bell curve. trials=100000; dx=.2; v=randn(1,trials);[count,x]=hist(v,[-4:dx:4]); hold off, b=bar(x,count/(trials*dx),’y’); hold on x=-4:.01:4; plot(x,exp(-x.^2/2)/sqrt(2*pi),’LineWidth’,2) axis([-4 4 0 .45]); Code 1 3 How Accurate Are Histograms? When playing with Code 1, the reader will happily see that given enough trials the histogram is close to the true bell curve. One can press further and ask how close? Multiple experiments will show that some of the bars may be slightly too high while others slightly too low. There are many experiments which we explore in the exercises to try to understand this more clearly. We will discuss these as the course progresse 4 HISTN: Normalized Histogram We can incorporate the ideas discussed above into the following MATLAB code
function Th, hn, xspan]=hist(data, xO, binsize, xf) ZHISTN Normalized Histogram l [H, HN, XSPAN]= HISTN (DATA, XO, BINSIZE, XF) generates the normalized istogram of area 1 from the values in DATA which are binned into h with a bin width specified by BINSIZE. region from Xo to XF h equally spaced containers that span the XO. BINSIZE and XF are all scalars while data is a vector H, HN and XsPAN are equally sized vectors %%%%%%%% References [1] Alan Edelman, Handout 2: Histogramming Fall 2004. Course Notes 18.338 [2]A1a elman, Random Matrix Eigenvalues Alan Edelman and Raj Rao, Sept. 2004 Revision:1.1$$Date:2004/09/1017:11:18$ aspan=Lxo: binsize: xf]; h=hist(data, span) 7 Generate histogram hn=h/(length (data)*binsize); l Normalize histogram to have area 1 bar (span, hn) 7 Plot histogram We will use this code throughout the remainder of the course to corroborate theoretical predictions with
� � � � function [h,hn,xspan]=histn(data,x0,binsize,xf); %HISTN Normalized Histogram. % [H,HN,XSPAN] = HISTN(DATA,X0,BINSIZE,XF) generates the normalized % histogram of area 1 from the values in DATA which are binned into % equally spaced containers that span the region from X0 to XF % with a bin width specified by BINSIZE. % % X0, BINSIZE and XF are all scalars while DATA is a vector. % H, HN and XSPAN are equally sized vectors. % % References: % [1] Alan Edelman, Handout 2: Histogramming, % Fall 2004, Course Notes 18.338. % [2] Alan Edelman, Random Matrix Eigenvalues. % % Alan Edelman and Raj Rao, Sept. 2004. % $Revision: 1.1 $ $Date: 2004/09/10 17:11:18 $ xspan=[x0:binsize:xf]; h=hist(data,xspan); % Generate histogram hn=h/(length(data)*binsize); % Normalize histogram to have area 1 bar(xspan,hn); % Plot histogram Code 2 We will use this code throughout the remainder of the course to corroborate theoretical predictions with experimental data
