Solved – Asymptotic distribution of the exponential of the sample mean

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I've needed to brush up on asymptotics recently, and I came across this interesting problem.

Let $(Z_{1}, Z_{2},…,Z_{N})$ be a random sample from a distribution from mean $\mu$ and variance $\sigma^2$. What is the asymptotic distribution of $Y=$ exp($\bar{Z}$)?

Here's what I've got so far. Just from the information of $Z$ alone, coupled with the fact that it's a random sample from some distribution, I can say $$E(\bar Z) = E(Z) = \mu$$ and $$Var(\bar Z ) = \frac{Var(Z)}{N} = \frac{\sigma^2}{N}$$.

I was wondering what $Y$ would look like. Intuitively, it looks like an exponential random variable, but I'm at a struggle as to why we would need an asymptotic distribution in that case. I would appreciate a hint or guidance as to what to do from here. I'm not very good with asymptotics, so if you could also give theorems or references, I would appreciate it (but it's not necessary).

Best Answer

By the Delta theorem, if

$${\sqrt{n}[\bar Z_n-\mu]\,\xrightarrow{D}\,\mathcal{N}(0,\sigma^2)}$$

then

$${\sqrt{n}[g(\bar Z_n)-g(\mu)]\,\xrightarrow{D}\,\mathcal{N}(0,\sigma^2\cdot[g'(\mu)]^2)}$$

I guess you can do the rest.