Sums and Means - Practice problems

Pierre Brochu
Department of Economics
University of Ottawa

Last updated: August 18, 2023

1 Definitions
Assume n draws of the x2 and y variables, i.e. (x12 , y1 ), (x22 , y2 ), . . . , (xn2 , yn ) .

Interpretation:

• y1 is the first draw of the y variable, y2 is the second draw of the y variable, and so on.

• x12 is the first draw of the x2 variable, x22 is the second draw of the x2 variable x2 , and
so on. This means that the first subscript refers to the draw and the second subscript
to the variable name.To hammer the point home, xi2 is the i-th draw of the x2 variable.

Comment: Why call a variable x2 ? Why not simply call it x? This is done as to match the
notation in Greene. In the multiple linear regression model we will have K − 1 explanatory
variables, denoted by x2 , x3 , . . . , xK .1 That means xi2 , xi3 , . . . , xiK are the i-th draws of
x2 , x3 , . . . , xK .

Why not start at x1 ? There is an x1 variable in the multiple (simple) and linear regression
model, but it equals one for all draws, and as such, is not an explanatory variable.

Definitions:

ȳ is the mean of the y variable, i.e.

1
Similarly, x̄2 is the mean of the x2 variable, i.e.
Pn
i=1 xi2
x̄2 =
n

2 Properties of sums
1.
n
X n
X n
X
(xi2 + yi ) = xi2 + yi (1)
i=1 i=1 i=1

2.
n
X n
X
ayi = a yi (2)
i=1 i=1

3.
n
X
a=n·a (3)
i=1

3 Practice Problems
Pn
1. Show that i=1 (yi − ȳ) = 0.
Pn
2. Show that i=1 (xi2 − x̄2 ) = 0.
Pn Pn
3. Show that i=1 (xi2 − x̄2 )(yi − ȳ) = i=1 (xi2 − x̄2 )yi .
Pn
− x̄2 )(xi2 − x̄2 ) = ni=1 (xi2 − x̄2 )xi2 .
P
4. Show that i=1 (xi2

5. Show that ni=1 (xi2 − x̄2 )(yi − ȳ) = [ ni=1 xi2 yi ] − nx̄2 ȳ.
P P

6. Show that if ni=1 ei = 0 then ni=1 (xi2 − x̄2 )(ei − ē) = ni=1 xi2 ei
P P P

7. Show that if ni=1 ei = 0 and ni=1 xi2 ei = 0 then ni=1 (xi2 − x̄2 )(ei − ē) = 0
P P P

2
4 Answers
1.
n
X n
X n
X
(yi − ȳ) = yi − ȳ (by prop. 1) (4)
i=1 i=1 i=1
Xn
= yi − n · ȳ (by prop. 3) (5)
i=1
n P
X
i=1 yi
= yi − n · (by definition of a sum) (6)
i=1
n
Xn X
= yi − yi (7)
i=1 i=1

=0 (8)

2.
n
X n
X n
X
(xi2 − x̄2 ) = xi2 − x̄2 (by prop. 1) (9)
i=1 i=1 i=1
Xn
= xi2 − n · x̄2 (by prop. 3) (10)
i=1
n P
X
i=1 xi2
= xi2 − n · (by definition of a sum) (11)
i=1
n
Xn X
= xi2 − xi2 (12)
i=1 i=1

=0 (13)

3
3.
n
X n
X
[ (xi2 − x̄2 )(yi − ȳ) ] = [ (xi2 − x̄2 )yi − (xi2 − x̄2 )ȳ) ] (14)
i=1 i=1
n
X n
X
= (xi2 − x̄2 )yi − (xi2 − x̄2 )ȳ (by prop. 1) (15)
i=1 i=1
Xn Xn
= (xi2 − x̄2 )yi − ȳ (xi2 − x̄2 ) (by prop. 2) (16)
i=1 i=1
Xn
= (xi2 − x̄2 )yi − ȳ · 0 (17)
i=1
n
X
= (xi2 − x̄2 )yi (18)
i=1

4.
n
X n
X
[ (xi2 − x̄2 )(xi2 − x̄2 ) ] = [ (xi2 − x̄2 )xi2 − (xi2 − x̄2 )x̄2 ) ] (19)
i=1 i=1
Xn n
X
= (xi2 − x̄2 )xi2 − (xi2 − x̄2 )x̄2 (by prop. 1) (20)
i=1 i=1
n
X n
X
= (xi2 − x̄2 )xi2 − x̄2 (xi2 − x̄2 ) (by prop. 2) (21)
i=1 i=1
Xn
= (xi2 − x̄2 )xi2 − x̄2 · 0 (22)
i=1
Xn
= (xi2 − x̄2 )xi2 (23)
i=1

4
5.
n
X
(xi2 − x̄2 )(yi − ȳ) (24)
i=1
n
X
= [ xi2 yi − xi2 ȳ − x̄2 yi + x̄2 ȳ ] (25)
i=1
Xn n
X n
X n
X
= xi2 yi − xi2 ȳ − x̄2 yi + x̄2 ȳ (by prop. 1) (26)
i=1 i=1 i=1 i=1
Xn Xn n
X
= xi2 yi − ȳ xi2 − x̄2 yi + n · x̄2 ȳ (by prop. 2 and 3) (27)
i=1 i=1 i=1
n Pn Pn
X
i=1 xi2 i=1 yi
= xi2 yi − n · ȳ − n · x̄2 + nx̄2 ȳ (28)
i=1
n n
n
!
X
= xi2 yi − nȳx̄2 − nx̄2 ȳ + nx̄2 ȳ (29)
i=1
n
!
X
= xi2 yi − nx̄2 ȳ (30)
i=1

6.
n
X
(xi2 − x̄2 )(ei − ē) (31)
i=1
n
X
= xi2 ei − nx̄2 ē (32)
i=1
n P2
i=1 ei
X
= xi2 ei − nx̄2 · (33)
i=1
n
n
X 0
= xi2 ei − n · x̄2 · (34)
i=1
n
Xn
= xi2 ei (35)
i=1

5
7.
n
X
(xi2 − x̄2 )(ei − ē) (36)
i=1
n
X
= xi2 ei − nx̄2 ē (37)
i=1
n P2
i=1 ei
X
= xi2 ei − n · x̄2 · (38)
i=1
n
0
= 0 − n · x̄2 · (39)
n
=0 (40)