# Moment-generating function (MGF) ¶

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The Moment-generating function or Fonction génératrice des moments is a function allowing us to find the moments (the expected value $\mathbb(X)$, the variance $V(X)$) when we are not able to.

That's the case when the expected value not converging to a value, or when the expected value is too complex

$\mathbb{E}(|X^k|) = \int |x^k|\ F_x(x)\ dx = +\infty \hspace{1cm} \text{ :(}$

We are defining the moment-generating function by

$M_X(t) = \mathbb{E}(\exp(tX)) = \int \exp(tx)\ f_X(x)\ dx$

## Usage ¶

Let $M_X(t)$ a moment-generating function, then

$\mathbb{E}(X) = \frac{\delta M_X (t)}{\delta t} = M'_X(0)$ $V(X) = \frac{\delta^2 M_X (t)}{\delta t^2} - \mathbb{E}(X)^2 = M''_X(0) - \mathbb{E}(X)^2$

If you are wondering how did we get these formulas, look on the web, and you may add it here, because that didn't pick my interest, hence, I didn't add it.

## Example ¶

According to wikipedia, the density function of an exponential distribution is $f_X(x) = \lambda \exp^{-\lambda x}$ (with $lambda \ge 0$) and we know that $M_X(t) = \int \exp(tx)\ f_X(x)\ dx$, so we have

$\begin{split} M_X(t) = \int_{0} \exp^{tx} * \lambda * \exp^{-\lambda x}\ dx\\ = \lambda * \int_{0} \exp^{tx} * \exp^{-\lambda x}\ dx \\ = \lambda * \int_{0} \exp^{(t -\lambda) x}\ dx \\ = \lambda * [ \frac{1}{t -\lambda} * \exp^{(t -\lambda) x}]_0^{+\infty} \\ = \lambda * (0 - \frac{1}{t -\lambda}) \\ = - \frac{\lambda}{t -\lambda} \\ = \frac{\lambda}{\lambda - t} \end{split}$

Giving us

$\mathbb{E}(X) = M'_X(0) = \frac{\lambda}{(\lambda - t)^2} = \frac{\lambda}{\lambda^2} = \frac{1}{\lambda}$ $\displaylines{ V(X) = M''_X(0) - \mathbb{E}(X)^2 \\ = \frac{2\lambda}{(\lambda - t)^3} - \frac{1}{\lambda^2} \\ = \frac{2\lambda}{\lambda^3} - \frac{1}{\lambda^2} \\ = \frac{2}{\lambda^2} - \frac{1}{\lambda^2} \\ = \frac{1}{\lambda^2} }$

You should try too. Look for some distribution on Wikipedia (Poisson, Bernoulli, Weibull, ...) and try it. Usually, the expected value/variance/density function and even the moment-generating function are given, so you only need to do the calculations.

• PDF: the density function
• Mean: the expected value
• Variance: the variance
• MGF: the moment-generating function