I'm interested in finding the expected value for the kth ordered observation of a normally distributed variable with known standard deviation, mean and n. Could someone let me know the formula for that?
Thanks for your help
I'm interested in finding the expected value for the kth ordered observation of a normally distributed variable with known standard deviation, mean and n. Could someone let me know the formula for that?
Thanks for your help
For a sample of size $n$ from an absolutely continuous distribution, the general formula for the expected value of the $k$-th order statistic is
$$E[X_{k\,:\,n}] = \frac {n!}{(k-1)!(n-k)!}\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}x[F(x)]^{k-1}\cdot [1-F(x)]^{n-k}f(x){\rm d}x$$
where $F$ is the cumulative distribution function and $f$ is the probability density function. This is equivalent to
$$E[X_{k\,:\,n}] = E[F^{-1}(U_{k\,:\,n})]$$
where $U$ is a Uniform $U(0,1)$ random variable, and the "minus one" denotes the inverse, not the reciprocal.
This second expression uses the probability integral transform so one can compute the expected value of interest through simulation:
1) Generate a sample of size $n$ from a Uniform $U(0,1)$.
2) Pick the $k$-th order statistic of the sample.
3) Compute $F^{-1}(U_{k\,:\,n})$ and store, where $F$ is the CDF of interest.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 many times.
5) Take the average of the stored values.