Recurrence formula and the maximum likelihood estimation of the age in a simple branching process

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Abstract
In this paper, we consider a Bienaymé– Galton–Watson process {Xn ; n ≧ 0; Xn = 1} and develop a recurrence formula for P(Xn = k), k = 1, 2, ···. The problem of obtaining the maximum likelihood estimate of the age of the process when p 0 = 0 is discussed. Furthermore the maximum likelihood estimate of the age of the process when the offspring distribution is negative binomial (p 0 ≠ 0) is obtained, and a comparison with Stigler's estimator (1970) of the age of the process is made.

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