Improved orthogonal polynomial density estimates

Density estimates that are expressible as the product of a base density function and a linear combination of orthogonal polynomials are considered in this paper. More specifically, two criteria are proposed for determining the number of terms to be included in the polynomial adjustment component and guidelines are suggested for the selection of a suitable base density function. A simulation study reveals that these stopping rules produce density estimates that are generally more accurate than kernel density estimates or those resulting from the application of the Kronmal–Tarter criterion. Additionally, it is explained that the same approach can be utilized to obtain multivariate density estimates. The proposed orthogonal polynomial density estimation methodology is applied to several univariate and bivariate data sets, some of which have served as benchmarks in the statistical literature on density estimation.