Parameter Estimation for the Bivariate Exponential Distribution by the EM Algorithm Based on Censored Samples

Abstract: In this paper, we estimate the parameters using the EM algorithm of the bivariate exponential distribution of Marshall-Olkin when the samples are right censored. The advantage of using the EM algorithm is that the observed data vector is viewed as being incomplete but regarded as an observable function of complete data. Then the EM algorithm exploits the reduced complexity of maximum likelihood estimation for complete data. We also derive the standard deviations of the estimates for this bivariate exponential distribution. A simulation study is conducted to compare the estimated values with the true values. It turns out that the estimates based on EM algorithm are more better than estimates obtained without the EM algorithm