Annals of Statistics

Measuring and testing dependence by correlation of distances

Gábor J. Székely, Maria L. Rizzo, and Nail K. Bakirov

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Abstract

Distance correlation is a new measure of dependence between random vectors. Distance covariance and distance correlation are analogous to product-moment covariance and correlation, but unlike the classical definition of correlation, distance correlation is zero only if the random vectors are independent. The empirical distance dependence measures are based on certain Euclidean distances between sample elements rather than sample moments, yet have a compact representation analogous to the classical covariance and correlation. Asymptotic properties and applications in testing independence are discussed. Implementation of the test and Monte Carlo results are also presented.

Article information

Source
Ann. Statist., Volume 35, Number 6 (2007), 2769-2794.

Dates
First available in Project Euclid: 22 January 2008

Permanent link to this document
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1201012979

Digital Object Identifier
doi:10.1214/009053607000000505

Mathematical Reviews number (MathSciNet)
MR2382665

Zentralblatt MATH identifier
1129.62059

Subjects
Primary: 62G10: Hypothesis testing
Secondary: 62H20: Measures of association (correlation, canonical correlation, etc.)

Keywords
Distance correlation distance covariance multivariate independence

Citation

Székely, Gábor J.; Rizzo, Maria L.; Bakirov, Nail K. Measuring and testing dependence by correlation of distances. Ann. Statist. 35 (2007), no. 6, 2769--2794. doi:10.1214/009053607000000505. https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aos/1201012979


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