Solved – Sufficient statistic for Poisson in wiki

poisson distributionsufficient-statistics

In Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufficient_statistic#Poisson_distribution

it says that $X_1+\cdots+X_n$ is a sufficient statistic for the parameter of the Poisson distribution and its proof follows by using the factorization theorem. However, the expression they obtain is:

$$ e^{-n\lambda}\lambda^{(x_1+x_2+\cdots +x_n)}\cdot {1 \over x_1!x_2!\cdots x_n!}$$

which also depends on $n$. Am I correct by assuming that this proof is flawed?

I know another proof using another result, but I wonder about the correctness of this claim in wiki.

Best Answer

A sufficient statistic is sufficient for a particular family of probability distributions, and in this case that family is actually not the family of Poisson distributions, each member of which is supported on the set $\{0,1,2,3,\ldots\},$ but rather it is a family of distributions supported on the set $\{0,1,2,3,\ldots\}^n$ of all $n$-tuples of finite cardinal numbers. Thus the random variable involved is an $n$-tuple $(X_1,\ldots,X_n)$ in which the components are independent and each has a $\operatorname{Poisson}(\lambda)$ distribution.

Within the set of all such $n$-tuples one finds the observable data $(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$. If the observable data are altered within that set, the number $n$ does not change; only the $x\text{s}$ change. Thus the proof is not erroneous.

If the number of independent identically distribued Poisson observations were a random variable in its own right, then one would have a different family of distributions and the sum of the observations would probably not be a sufficient statistic.

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