Suppose an expert hypothesizes that the probability of a rainfall event causing a particular stormwater retention pond to overtop can be modeled with a beta (a, B ) distribution. Over n years of data collection, the percentages of rainfall events that caused overtopping would be denoted p1, p2, ..., pn.
a. Derive the method-of-moments estimators for the parameters and of the beta distribution.
b. Suppose that over the last 5 years, the percentage of rainfall events that caused overtopping were 2%, 6%, 4%, 3%, and 8%. Use this sample plus the estimators derived in part a. to estimate a and B