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I have a continuous uniform random variable $P∼U(0,1)$ and a normal random variable $X∼N(0,σ)$. If $Z$ is given by $Z=\frac{1}{1+P}+X$ where $X$ and $P$ are independent variables, how can I calculate the PDF of $Z$ in Mathematica?

This fails to run:

pdf3 = PDF[
  TransformedDistribution[(1/(1 + z1)) + 
    z2, {z1 \[Distributed] UniformDistribution[{0, 1}], 
    z2 \[Distributed] NormalDistribution[0, s]}], x]

However, if I look only at $Z = \frac{1}{1+P}$ using a similar approach, my code runs OK:

pdf2 = PDF[
  TransformedDistribution[(1/(1 + z1)), {z1 \[Distributed] 
     UniformDistribution[{0, 1}]}], x]
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    $\begingroup$ try td1 = TransformedDistribution[(1/(1 + z1)), {z1 \[Distributed] UniformDistribution[{0, 1}]}]; pmd = ParameterMixtureDistribution[NormalDistribution[m1, s], m1 \[Distributed] td1, Assumptions -> s > 0]; PDF[pmd]@x? $\endgroup$
    – kglr
    May 11, 2021 at 14:04
  • $\begingroup$ No luck I'm afraid, still does not run. Thank you for trying! $\endgroup$ May 11, 2021 at 14:21
  • $\begingroup$ Cross-posted at math.stackexchange.com/questions/4134911/…. $\endgroup$
    – JimB
    May 11, 2021 at 18:41

1 Answer 1

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I know you want an explicit formula for the pdf but I'm not sure that exists. Here's why:

Your pdf2 is

pdf2 = PDF[TransformedDistribution[(1/(1 + z1)), 
  {z1 \[Distributed] UniformDistribution[{0, 1}]}], z2]

pdf of 1/(1-p)

So the brute force approach would be to get the pdf of $Z$ as follows:

Integrate[(1/z1^2) PDF[NormalDistribution[0, s], z - z1], {z1, 1/2, 1}, Assumptions -> s > 0]

But the input is just returned and even using Rubi doesn't get an explicit solution. A numerical approach might be what you have to do.

dist = TransformedDistribution[(1/(1 + z1)) + 
    z2, {z1 \[Distributed] UniformDistribution[{0, 1}], 
    z2 \[Distributed] NormalDistribution[0, s]}];

pdf[z_, s_] := NIntegrate[(1/z2^2) PDF[NormalDistribution[0, s], z - z2], {z2, 1/2, 1}]

s0 = 1/80;
n = 100000;
SeedRandom[12345];
zz = RandomVariate[dist /. s -> s0, n];
Show[Histogram[zz, "FreedmanDiaconis", "PDF"], 
 Plot[pdf[z, s0], {z, 0.4, 1.1}, PlotRange -> All, PlotStyle -> Red]]

Histogram and estimated density

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    $\begingroup$ Should that be a z1 rather than a u in the normal distribution PDF in your second code block? (If not, it's a pretty easy integral.) :-) $\endgroup$ May 11, 2021 at 18:04
  • $\begingroup$ @MichaelSeifert. You're right. I changed the notation and then didn't run it again which would have caught that error. I'll fix it. Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – JimB
    May 11, 2021 at 18:10
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for the great answer. I feared that there might not be a way to get an explicit solution with Mathematica. Do you think this is a limitation of the software or something about the function itself that prevents the convolution of the PDFs? $\endgroup$ May 12, 2021 at 7:39
  • $\begingroup$ For anyone interested, I also have a post on math.stackexchange on finding the PDF of the same equation math.stackexchange.com/questions/4134911/… $\endgroup$ May 12, 2021 at 7:45
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    $\begingroup$ The integral resembles OwenT, but I was unable to massage the integrand to express it in terms of it. $\endgroup$
    – Greg Hurst
    May 12, 2021 at 15:40

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