A distribution function from population genetics statistics using Stirling numbers of the first kind: asymptotics, inversion and numerical evaluation

DOI10.1090/MCOM/3711zbMATH Open1500.41009arXiv2111.11221OpenAlexW3217651811MaRDI QIDQ5029477FDOQ5029477

Authors: Swaine L. Chen, Nico M. Temme 

Publication date: 14 February 2022

Published in: Mathematics of Computation (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Stirling numbers of the first kind are common in number theory and combinatorics; through Ewen's sampling formula, these numbers enter into the calculation of several population genetics statistics, such as Fu's Fs. In previous papers we have considered an asymptotic estimator for a finite sum of Stirling numbers, which enables rapid and accurate calculation of Fu's Fs. These sums can also be viewed as a cumulative distribution function; this formulation leads directly to an inversion problem, where, given a value for Fu's Fs, the goal is to solve for one of the input parameters. We solve this inversion using Newton iteration for small parameters. For large parameters we need to extend the earlier obtained asymptotic results to handle the inversion problem asymptotically. Numerical experiments are given to show the efficiency of both solving the inversion problem and the expanded estimator for the statistical quantities.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.11221

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zbMATH Keywords

cumulative distribution functionasymptotic analysisnumerical algorithmsStirling numbers of the first kindevolutionary inference from sequence alignmentspopulation genetics statistics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Asymptotic properties of parametric estimators (62F12) Asymptotic approximations, asymptotic expansions (steepest descent, etc.) (41A60) Bell and Stirling numbers (11B73)

Cites Work

• Numerical Methods for Special Functions
• Asymptotic Estimates of Stirling Numbers
• Asymptotic methods for integrals
• Asymptotic inversion of the incomplete beta function
• Efficient algorithms for the inversion of the cumulative central beta distribution

Cited In (2)

• Mode and Edgeworth expansion for the Ewens distribution and the Stirling numbers
• The genetic sums' representation for the moments of a system of Stieltjes functions and its application

Uses Software

• Digital Library of Mathematical Functions

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