James H. Steiger
What is a linear combination? Basic definitions and terminology Key aspects of the behavior of linear combinations
The Mean of a linear combination The Variance of a linear combination The Covariance between two linear combinations The Correlation between two linear combinations
Applications
Course Grades
The first few rows of the data matrix for our hypothetical class might look like this:
Person Midterm Final Course
A B C D
90 82 74 90
78 88 86 96
82 86 82 94
Course Grades
The course grade was produced with the following equation
1 2 Gi X i Yi 3 3
where G is the course grade, X is the midterm grade, and Y is the final exam grade.
Course Grades
We say that the variables G, X, and Y follow the linear combination rule G (1/ 3) X (2 / 3)Y and that G is a linear combination of X and Y. More generally, any expression of the form
C aX bY
is a linear combination of X and Y. The constants a and b in the above expression are called linear weights.
Learning to read a LC
It is important to be able to examine an expression and determine the following:
N1 X 1 N 2 X 2 X N1 N 2
Consider
1 N X Xi N i 1
Is X a linear combination of the X i ? If so, what are the linear weights?
A B C D Mean
90 82 74 90 84
78 88 86 96 87
82 86 82 94 86
The grades were produced with the formula G = (1/3) X + (2/3) Y. Notice that the group means follow the same rule!
W aX bY
In the course grades, X has a mean of 84 and Y has a mean of 87. So the mean of the final grades must be (1/3) 84 + (2/3)87 = 86
X 2 Y 2 2 XY
Apply a conversion rule. (1) Constants are left unchanged. (2) Squared variables become the variance of the variable. (3) Products of two variables become the covariance of the two variables
S S 2 S xy
2 x 2 y
So
S
2 X - 2Y
S 4 S - 4 S XY
2 X 2 Y
S LM S X Y , X -Y ?
Hence
S LM S - S
2 X
2 Y
An SPSS Example
Start up SPSS and create a file with these data.
X 1 2 3 4 5
Y 4 3 5 2 1
An SPSS Example
Next, we will compute the linear combinations X + Y and X - Y in the variables labeled L and M.
X 1 2 3 4 5
Y 4 3 5 2 1
L 5 5 8 6 6
M -3 -1 -2 2 4
An SPSS Example
Using SPSS, we will next compute descriptive statistics for the variables, and verify that they in fact obey the laws of linear combinations.
An SPSS Example
An SPSS Example
An SPSS Example
An SPSS Example
Descriptive Statistics
N X 5
Min 1
Max 5
Mean 3.00
Y
L M
5
5 5
1
5.00 -3.00
5
8.00 4.00
3.00
6.0000 .0000
1.581
1.22474 2.91548
2.500
1.500 8.500
Computing Covariances
Computing Covariances
An SPSS Example
2 2 SY SX 2.5 2 SL 1.5
SYX -1.75
2 SM 8.5
S LM 0
Comment
Note how we have learned a simple way to create two lists of numbers with a precisely zero covariance (and correlation).
1 1 G X Y 2 2
If X and Y are in Z score form, find the mean and variance of G, the final grades.
1 1 G X Y 0 2 2
1 2 1 2 1 S S X SY S XY 4 4 2 However, since X and Y are in Z score form, the variances are both 1, and the covariance is equal to the correlation
2 G
and
SG .75 .866