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Suppose $X \sim N(0, \sigma^2)$, is it possible to evaluate $E[\Phi(\frac{aX + b}{c}) | X > k]$ in closed form, where $\Phi$ is the standard normal cdf?

The motivation comes from that it is possible to evaluate something like $E[\Phi(\frac{aX + b}{c})]$ with a closed-form expression. But not sure if something similar holds for the conditional expectation case.

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    $\begingroup$ Since$$\Phi(\frac{aX+b}{c})=\mathbb E[\mathbb I_{Y<\frac{aX+b}{c}}]|X|$$with $Y$ standard Gaussian independent from $X$, the computation of $$\mathbb E[\mathbb I_{X>k}\mathbb I_{Y<\frac{aX+b}{c}}]|$$may prove feasible. $\endgroup$
    – Xi'an
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 19:31
  • $\begingroup$ I agree. thanks, but is it feasible to express everything analytically, say in terms of $\Phi(\cdot)$? The expectation with the two indicators does not seem straightforward to me that it can be written in a closed form immediately. $\endgroup$
    – rick
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 19:35
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    $\begingroup$ Are you sure this is what you want to do? $(aX+b)/c \sim \text{N}(b/c, a/c)$, so basically you're running a $\text{N}(\mu,\sigma)$ variate through a $\text{N}(0,1)$ CDF, not through what I would expect - a $\text{N}(\mu, \sigma)$ CDF. What's the situation that's causing you to want to do this? $\endgroup$
    – jbowman
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 19:57
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    $\begingroup$ I did not specify what $a$, $b$, and $c$ are. So, it can be anything that is appropriate. I thought this formulation is just a general formulation that I am considering some linear transformation of $X$ insider $\Phi(\cdot)$, although the $c$ is probably not needed. Does that clarify? $\endgroup$
    – rick
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 21:24

1 Answer 1

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This is the expected value of a function of the Normal random variable $X \sim {\rm N}(0, \sigma)$, which more over is truncated from below. By the definition then,

\begin{align} I_1= E\left[\Phi\left(\frac{aX + b}{c}\right) | X > k\right] &= \frac{\int_{k}^{\infty}\frac 1 {\sigma}\phi\left(x/\sigma\right)\Phi\left(\frac{ax + b}{c}\right)dx}{1-\Phi(k/\sigma)}\\ &\\ &\implies I_1 \equiv \frac{I_2}{1-\Phi(k/\sigma)}. \tag{1} \end{align}

2. We consume the scale factor $\sigma$, by setting $z=x/\sigma$, to get

$$I_2 = \int_{k/\sigma}^{\infty}\phi\left(z\right)\Phi\left(\frac{a\sigma}{c}z + \frac bc\right)dz. \tag{2}$$

3. We express the definite integral $I_2$ as a difference, \begin{align} I_2 \equiv I_3-I_4 &\implies \int_{k/\sigma}^{\infty}\phi\left(z\right)\Phi\left(\frac{a\sigma}{c}z + \frac bc\right)dz \\ &= \int_{-\infty}^{\infty}\phi\left(z\right)\Phi\left(\frac{a\sigma}{c}z + \frac bc\right)dz - \int_{-\infty}^{k/\sigma}\phi\left(z\right)\Phi\left(\frac{a\sigma}{c}z + \frac bc\right)dz \tag{3} \end{align}

4. For integral $I_3$ we have from Owen, D. B. (1980). A table of normal integrals: Communications in Statistics-Simulation and Computation, 9(4), 389-419., p. 403, eq. 10,010.8

$$I_3=\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}\phi\left(z\right)\Phi\left(\frac{a\sigma}{c}z + \frac bc\right)dz = \Phi\left(\frac{b}{\sqrt{c^2+a^2\sigma^2}}\right). \tag{4}$$

5. We turn to $I_4$. From Azzalini, A. and Ant. Capitanio (2014). The skew-normal and related families Cambridge University Press. we have the definition of the "Extended Skew Normal" distribution (p. 36 eq. 2.39) that has density $$f(z) = \phi(z)\frac{\Phi\left(\gamma z + \tau\sqrt{1+\gamma^2}\right)}{\Phi(\tau)} \tag{5}$$

By definition its CDF, say for quantile $k/\sigma$ is

$$F_Z(k/\sigma) \equiv \Pr(Z \leq k/\sigma) = \int_{-\infty}^{k/\sigma} \phi(z)\frac{\Phi\left(\gamma z + \tau\sqrt{1+\gamma^2}\right)}{\Phi(\tau)}dz.\tag{6}$$

Azzalini & Capitanio (p. 40 eq. 2.48) give this CDF in terms of the Bivariate standard Normal integral $\Phi_2$ as

$$\int_{-\infty}^{k/\sigma} \phi(z)\frac{\Phi\left(\gamma z + \tau\sqrt{1+\gamma^2}\right)}{\Phi(\tau)}dz = \frac{\Phi_2\left(k/\sigma,\,\tau\,;\, -\delta\right)}{\Phi(\tau)},\quad \delta = \frac{\gamma}{\sqrt{1+\gamma^2}}. \tag{7}$$

Here $-\delta$ is the correlation coefficient of the bivariate Normal vector. From this we get

$$\int_{-\infty}^{k/\sigma} \phi(z)\Phi\left(\gamma z + \tau\sqrt{1+\gamma^2}\right)dz = \Phi_2\left(k/\sigma,\,\tau\,;\, -\delta\right). \tag{8}$$

Combining all results we arrive at, for $X \sim {\rm N}(0,\sigma)$,

$$E\left[\Phi\left(\frac{aX + b}{c}\right) | X > k\right] = \frac{\Phi\left(\frac{b}{\sqrt{c^2+a^2\sigma^2}}\right) - \Phi_2\left(k/\sigma,\,\tau\,;\, -\delta\right)}{1-\Phi(k/\sigma)}$$

with

$$\gamma = \frac{a\sigma}{c},\quad \tau\sqrt{1+\gamma^2} = \frac bc ,\quad \delta = \frac{\gamma}{\sqrt{1+\gamma^2}}.$$

6. Mapping the auxiliary coefficients to the original vector $(a,b,c,k)$ of parameters, we finally get

$$E\left[\Phi\left(\frac{aX + b}{c}\right) | X > k\right] = \frac{\Phi\left(\frac{b}{\sqrt{c^2+a^2\sigma^2}}\right)-\Phi_2\left(k/\sigma,\,\frac{b}{\sqrt{c^2+a^2\sigma^2}}\,;\, -\delta\right)}{\Phi(-k/\sigma)},$$ $$\delta = \frac{a\sigma}{\sqrt{c^2+a^2\sigma^2}}. \tag{9}$$

Indicative simulations verify the above result.

Other integrals of similar form can be found in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_integrals_of_Gaussian_functions

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you sure "this can be solved" for general $k$? Or in other words, does the indefinite integral have a closed-form solution? $\endgroup$
    – Zhanxiong
    Commented Sep 7 at 13:16
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    $\begingroup$ @Zhanxiong Yes. I added the response to your question in the main post. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 7 at 14:24
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    $\begingroup$ So by "can be solved", you meant it is OK to include a T-function in the final result? For completeness, I encourage you to place down the final result in the answer (instead of only links to papers, which may well be behind the paywall). $\endgroup$
    – Zhanxiong
    Commented Sep 7 at 15:46
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    $\begingroup$ I do not recognize any version of this integral among the list of indefinite integrals you reference. $\endgroup$
    – whuber
    Commented Sep 7 at 15:47
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    $\begingroup$ @AlecosPapadopoulos The reason I made that request is, as whuber may have pointed out, the right hand side of the expression in your answer probably does not have a cleaner solution (unless $c = a = \sigma = 1$ and $b = 0$, or $k = -\infty$), because it does not fall into any category in the Wiki link (with just change of variables, etc.). I am not sure and interested to see how the references you mentioned could help simplify this expression further in a non-trivial way. $\endgroup$
    – Zhanxiong
    Commented Sep 8 at 2:49

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