I am trying to estimate the value of a parameter by equating variance from a distribution to the sample variance... i.e. using method of moments estimation. Would it better to use the variance formula with $1/(n-1)$ in the denominator or $1/n$? Why is one better than the other?
thanks
I'll give an example: say I have been told Random variables from the 'geometric distribution' have a $\sum_{1}^n(X_i - \bar{X})^2$= 10. Then in order to estimate the parameter 'p' where $\frac{1-p}{p^2}$ is the variance of the geometric distribution.
do I in this circumstance use: $\frac{10}{n-1}=\frac{1-p}{p^2}$ and then given 'n' solve quadratic for p. or should I be using $\frac{10}{n}$ instead on the LHS.