Estimation of Jump Points in Nonparametric Regression

Abstract

If the regression function has jump points, nonparametric estimation method based on local smoothing is not statistically consistent. Therefore, when we estimate regression function, it is quite important to know whether it is reasonable to assume that regression function is continuous. If the regression function appears to have jump points, then we should estimate first the location of jump points. In this paper, we propose a procedure which can do both the testing hypothesis of discontinuity of regression function and the estimation of the number and the location of jump points simultaneously. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated through a simulation study. We also apply the procedure to real data sets as examples.