Distribution of products of independently distributed pathway random variables

Abstract

A lot of work has been done on products and ratios of random variables by Provost and his co-workers, see, for example, Provost [S.B. Provost, The exact distribution of the ratio of a linear combination of chi-square variables over the root of a product of chi-square variables, Canad. J. Statist. 14 (1986), pp. 61–67; S.B. Provost, The distribution function of a statistic for testing the equality of scale parameters in two gamma populations, Metrika 36 (1989), pp. 337–345]. Here, we extend this idea by introducing a pathway model. The exact density functions of the products of pathway random variables are obtained using the Mellin transform technique. Their computable series forms are derived. The particular cases of the derived results are shown to be associated with the thermonuclear functions and reaction rate probability integral in the theory of nuclear reaction rate, Krätzel integral in applied analyses and inverse Gaussian density in stochastic processes. Graphical representations of the density functions of the product of random variables for the different values of the pathway parameters are shown. The new probability model is fitted to revenue data.