There comes a time that a statistician needs to do some ananytic calculations. There more than a bunch of tools to use but I usually prefer Mathematica or Maple. Today, I’m gonna use Mathematica to do a simple exhibition.

Let’s set this example upon the  $$ U(2 \theta _1-\theta _2\leq x\leq 2 \theta _1+\theta _2) $$  distribution.

pfun = PDF[UniformDistribution[{2*Subscript[θ, 1] - Subscript[θ, 2],
2*Subscript[θ, 1] + Subscript[θ, 2]}], x]

$$ \begin{cases}
\frac{1}{2 \theta _2} & 2 \theta _1-\theta _2\leq x\leq 2 \theta _1+\theta _2 \\
0 & \text{True}
\end{cases} $$

One of the most intensive calculations is the characteristic function (eq. the moment generating function). This is straightforward to derive.

cfun=CharacteristicFunction[UniformDistribution[
{2*Subscript[θ, 1]-Subscript[θ, 2],2*Subscript[θ, 1]+Subscript[θ, 2]}],x]

$$ -\frac{i \left(-e^{i x \left(2 \theta _1-\theta _2\right)}+e^{i x \left(2 \theta _1+\theta _2\right)}\right)}{2 x \theta _2} $$.

The Table[] command calculates for us the raw moments for our distribution.

Table[Limit[D[cfun, {x, n}], x -> 0]/I^n, {n, 4}]

$$ \left\{2 \theta _1,\frac{1}{3} \left(12 \theta _1^2+\theta _2^2\right),2 \theta _1 \left(4 \theta _1^2+\theta _2^2\right),16 \theta _1^4+8 \theta _1^2 \theta _2^2+\frac{\theta _2^4}{5}\right\} $$.

Calculate the sample statistics.

T=List[8.23,6.9,1.05,4.8,2.03,6.95];
{Mean[T],Variance[T]}

$$ \{4.99333,8.46171\} $$.

Now, we can use a simple moment matching technique to get estimates for the parameters.

Solve[{Mean[T]-2*Subscript[θ, 1]==0,-(2*Subscript[θ, 1])^2+
1/3 (12 Subscript[θ, 1]^2+\!\*SubsuperscriptBox[\(θ\), \(2\), \(2\)])-
Variance[T]==0},{Subscript[θ, 2],Subscript[θ, 1]}]

$$\left\{\left\{\theta _1\to 2.49667,\theta _2\to -5.03836\right\},\left\{\theta _1\to 2.49667,\theta _2\to 5.03836\right\}\right\} $$.

Check the true value for the $$ \theta _2$$.

Reduce[2 Subscript[θ, 1]-Subscript[θ, 2]<=2 Subscript[θ, 1]+Subscript[θ, 2],
Subscript[θ, 2]]

$$ \theta _1\in \text{Reals}\&\&\theta _2\geq 0 $$.

Then, $$\left\{\left\{\theta _1\to 2.49667,\theta _2\to 5.03836\right\}\right\} $$.