First four raw moments of a standard normal
Question
Let follow a standard normal distribution. Compute , , and .
Short answer
, , and . Odd moments vanish because the density is symmetric. The MGF gives and (or integrate by parts: ).
Adapted from Zhou, A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews, sec. 4.4 Discrete and Continuous Distributions, 'Moments of normal distribution', p.90; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- The Normal Distribution
- Transforms and Moment Generating Functions
- Sample Spaces, Events, and the Probability Axioms
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