Durbin-Levinson Algorithm

Author

John Robin Inston

Published

September 25, 2026

0.1 Durbin-Levinson Algorithm

The Durbin-Levinson algorithm recursively solves the sample Yule-Walker Equations for increasing orders \(h=1,2,\dots\), avoiding a fresh \(h\times h\) linear solve at each order and directly producing the sample PACF as a by-product.

Given the sample ACF \(\hat\rho(\cdot)\), initialize \(\hat\phi_{11} = \hat\rho(1)\). For \(h = 2, 3, \dots\): \[ \hat\phi_{hh} = \frac{\hat\rho(h) - \sum_{j=1}^{h-1}\hat\phi_{h-1,j}\,\hat\rho(h-j)}{1 - \sum_{j=1}^{h-1}\hat\phi_{h-1,j}\,\hat\rho(j)}, \] \[ \hat\phi_{hj} = \hat\phi_{h-1,j} - \hat\phi_{hh}\,\hat\phi_{h-1,h-j}, \qquad j = 1,\dots,h-1. \] The sample PACF at lag \(h\) is \(\hat\alpha(h) = \hat\phi_{hh}\), and \(\{\hat\phi_{h1},\dots,\hat\phi_{hh}\}\) are the coefficients of the best linear predictor of \(X_{t+h}\) from \(X_{t+h-1},\dots,X_t\) fit as an \(AR(h)\) (see Time Series Best Linear Predictors).

This is the standard algorithm used to fit AR models of increasing order and to compute PACF plots in practice, and is closely related to the Innovations Algorithm, which solves the analogous recursive prediction problem for general (not necessarily AR) stationary processes, including non-invertible/non-causal ones.

0.2 References

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