On computing distributions of products of random variables via Gaussian multiresolution analysis

Abstract

We introduce a new approximate multiresolution analysis (MRA) using a single Gaussian as the scaling function, which we call Gaussian MRA (GMRA). As an initial application, we employ this new tool to accurately and efficiently compute the probability density function (PDF) of the product of independent random variables. In contrast with Monte-Carlo (MC) type methods (the only other universal approach known to address this problem), our method not only achieves accuracies beyond the reach of MC but also produces a PDF expressed as a Gaussian mixture, thus allowing for further efficient computations. We also show that an exact MRA corresponding to our GMRA can be constructed for a matching user-selected accuracy.