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Recovering beta parameters from a scaled variable

Question

Suppose X∼Beta(a,b)X\sim\text{Beta}(a,b) with a,ba,b unknown, and for some constants c,dc,d the variable Y=cX+dY=cX+d has support [−0.02,0.04][-0.02,0.04], mean 1400\tfrac{1}{400} and variance 332000\tfrac{3}{32000}. Determine a−ba-b.

Short answer

−2-2. Matching the support gives Y=0.06X−0.02Y=0.06X-0.02, so E[X]=38E[X]=\tfrac38 and Var⁡(X)=5192\operatorname{Var}(X)=\tfrac{5}{192}. Since a beta variance equals μ(1−μ)a+b+1\tfrac{\mu(1-\mu)}{a+b+1}, we get 15/64a+b+1=5192\tfrac{15/64}{a+b+1}=\tfrac5{192}, so a+b=8a+b=8; with aa+b=38\tfrac{a}{a+b}=\tfrac38 this gives a=3a=3, b=5b=5.

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