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Let $X=(X_1,\dots,X_n)\sim N(\mu,\sigma)$ be a Gaussian random vector of $d$ dimensions with mean $\mu$ and diagonal variance $\sigma^2$. Thus, both $\mu,\sigma\in\mathbb{R}^d$.

Let $I=\arg\max_{i\in[1,n]}X_i$. I would like to get an analytical expression of the distribution of $I$ or an analytical approximation.

Since the variables are independent we can obtain an expression by integrating w.r.t. the maximum $x$ and adding up the probability of variable $i$ being the argmax at exactly that maximum: $$\mathbb{E}_{x\sim N(\mu_i,\sigma_i)}\left[\prod_{j\neq i} cdf(\mu_j,\sigma_j)(x)\right] = \int_{x=-\infty}^{\infty} N(\mu_i,\sigma_i)(x)\left(\prod_{j\neq i} cdf(\mu_j,\sigma_j)(x)\right) dx$$ where the expression within the integral is the probability of variable $i$ being exactly $x$ and all others being less than $x$, multiplying because of independence.

I don't know how to obtain a formula for this integral. I'm searching for an expression without integrals, but which can use the gaussian cdf.

I've found related questions[1,2,3,4], but they either talk about numerical algorithms or show that the question is very hard in the general case when $\Sigma$ is a matrix. I would need an analytical expression, but I'm happy with approximations, diagonal variance, or even $\sigma=I$.

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    $\begingroup$ Diagonal variance means each component is independent with others. You can compute the explicit formula for $\mathbb{P}(I=k)$ directly: first conditional on the value of $X_{k}=x$, compute the probability that all other components $X_{1},\ldots,X_{k-1},X_{k+1},\ldots,X_{n}$ (note that they are again independent) are all less than $x$, then take expectation wrt $X_{k}$. $\endgroup$
    – Q9y5
    Commented Feb 7, 2022 at 8:23
  • $\begingroup$ @Q9y5 thanks a lot for your answer. You're right that we can find a solution with integrals, I've now added it to my question description. I'm looking for an expression that can be put on a programming package and differentiated w.r.t. $\mu,\sigma$ so it cannot contain integrals. $\endgroup$
    – etal
    Commented Feb 7, 2022 at 16:57
  • $\begingroup$ The level curves of the argmax function look like the corner of an $n$ dimensional box. You are asking which of these level curves contain how much of the probability density. But that is not a nice shape to work with, so you probably won't get a nice analytical expression or even an approximation. The integral approach that you give is for the approach of treating the box corner face by face. This would be the only hope for getting a nice analytical expression. $\endgroup$
    – Matt
    Commented Feb 12, 2022 at 6:17

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