randmvn {monomvn} | R Documentation

## Randomly Generate a Multivariate Normal Distribution

### Description

Randomly generate a mean vector and covariance matrix describing a multivariate normal (MVN) distribution, and then sample from it

### Usage

    randmvn(N, d, method = c("normwish", "parsimonious"),
            mup=list(mu = 0, s2 = 1), s2p=list(a = 0.5, b = 1),
            pnz=0.1, nu=Inf)

### Arguments

`N` | number of samples to draw
`d` | dimension of the MVN, i.e., the length of the mean vector and the number of rows/cols of the covariance matrix
`method` | the default generation method is `"norwish"` uses the direct method described in the details section below, whereas the `"parsimonious"` method builds up the random mean vector and covariance via regression coefficients, intercepts, and variances. See below for more details. Here, a random number of regression coefficients for each regression are set to zero
`mup` | a `list` with entries `$mu` and `$s2`: `$mu` is the prior mean for the independent components of the normally distributed mean vector; `$s2` is the prior variance
`s2p` | a `list` with entries `$a` and `$b` only valid for `method = "parsimonious"`: `$a > 0` is the baseline inverse gamma prior scale parameter for the regression variances (the actual parameter used for each column `i in 1:d` of the covariance matrix is `a + i - 1`); `$b >= 0` is the rate parameter
`pnz` | a scalar `0 <= pnz <= 1`, only valid for `method = "parsimonious"`: determines the binomial proportion of non-zero regression coefficients in the sequential build-up of `mu` and `S`, thereby indirectly determining the number of non-zero entries in `S`
`nu` | a scalar `>= 1` indicating the degrees of freedom of a Student-t distribution to be used instead of an MVN when not infinite

### Details

In the direct method (`"normwish"`) the components of the mean vector `mu` are iid from a standard normal distribution, and the covariance matrix `S` is drawn from an inverse–Wishart distribution with degrees of freedom `d + 2` and mean (centering matrix) `diag(d)`

In the `"parsimonious"` method `mu` and `S` are built up sequentially by randomly sampling intercepts, regression coefficients (of length `i-1` for `i in 1:d`) and variances by applying the `monomvn` equations. A unique prior results when a random number of the regression coefficients are set to zero. When none are set to zero the direct method results

### Value

The return value is a `list` with the following components:

`mu` | randomly generated mean vector of length `d`
`S` | randomly generated covariance `matrix` with `d` rows and `d` columns
`x` | if `N > 0` then `x` is an `N*d` `matrix` of `N` samples from the MVN with mean vector `mu` and covariance `matrix` `S`; otherwise when `N = 0` this component is not included

### Note

requires the `rmvnorm` function of the mvtnorm package

### Author(s)

Robert B. Gramacy rbg@vt.edu

### See Also

`rwish`, `rmvnorm`, `rmono`

### Examples

    randmvn(5, 3)

[Package monomvn version 1.9-10 Index]