Is the product of two random variables independent

independencenormal distributionprobability distributionsrandom variables

Suppose we have random variables $x_1, \dots, x_n$ which are distributed by $x_i \sim N(0,1)$ and variables $y_1, \dots, y_n$ which are distributed by $y_i \sim N(0,1)$. Moreover, the variables $x_i$ are independent of $y_j$ and of each other. Since $x_i$ and $y_i$ are random variables we obtain a new random variable $z_i$ by $z_i=x_iy_i$. Are the $z_i$'s independent from one another?

Best Answer

If they were independent we would have $Ex_1^{2}y_1^{2}x_2^{2}y_2^{2}=Ez_1^{2}z_2^{2}=Ez_1^{2}Ez_2^{2}=Ex_1^{2}y_1^{2}Ex_2^{2}y_2^{2}$. Consider the case where $y_1=y_2$. We get $Ex_1^{2}y_1^{4}x_2^{2}=(Ex_1^{2}y_1^{2})^{2}$ since $x_1y_1$ and $x_2y_1$ have the same distribution. Thus $Ey_1^{4}=((Ey_1)^{2})^{2}$ which implies that $y_1^{2}$ is a constant (by conditon for equality in Cauchy-Schwarz inequality). This contradiction shows that the result is not true when $y_1=y_2$.

If $y_i$'s are also independent then the result is true.