Product of N independent uniform random variables

probabilityprobability distributionsuniform distribution

We have N independent random variables of $X_1 , X_2 , … X_N$ with uniform distribution $U(0,1)$. the distribution of $Y$ as
$$
Y = \frac{1}{X_1X_2X_3 … X_N}
$$

is desired.
To solve this problem, I write:
$$
T = \ln(Y) = – \sum_{i=1}^N \ln(X_i) = \sum_{i=1}^N Z_i
$$

where $ Z_i =-\ln(X_i) $. Then the distribution of $Z_i$ random variables could be written as
$$
f_{Z_i}(Z_i) = \frac{f_{X_i}(e^{-Z_i})}{|e^{Z_i}|} = e^{-Z_i}f_{X_i}(e^{-Z_i})
$$

But I do not know how to solve it any further. Would be helpful to utilize its Characteristic function in order to rewrite the sum of natural-log sum of random variables? Or Should I solve it in a different way?
Thanks for your help in advance.

Best Answer

As you noted,

$$logY=\Sigma_i (-logX_i)$$

$$W_i=-logX_i\sim Exp(1)$$

Thus $log(Y)=\Sigma_i W_i\sim Gamma(n;1)$

Now, knowing the distribution of $logY$ it is easy to find the requested density

$$f_Y(y)=\frac{log^{n-1}y}{\Gamma(n)y^2}\cdot \mathbb{1}_{(1;+\infty)}(y)$$


P.S.: I used the notation $log$ but Natural logarithm is meant