Note on Selection from a Multivariate Normal Population

Abstract

The problem of statistical “selection” is concerned with the alteration induced in a frequency distribution in several variables by an alteration of the parameters in a subsection of the distribution. It may be illustrated by a simple trivariate case, as follows:From a population characterised by variables x, y, z, correlated and normally distributed, with means 0, 0, 0, variances and product variances r12σ1σ2, r13σ1σ3, r23σ2σ3, a sub-population is extracted by selection in x alone, in such a way that after selection x is still normally distributed, but with mean h and variance s2 . It is required to determine the new values, in the selected population, of the means and variances of y and z, and of the product variances.