Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1709391 | Applied Mathematics Letters | 2009 | 4 Pages |
Abstract
We establish a log-supermodularity property for probability distributions on binary patterns observed at the tips of a tree that are generated under any 2-state Markov process. We illustrate the applicability of this result in phylogenetics by deriving an inequality relevant to estimating expected future phylogenetic diversity under a model of species extinction. In a further application of the log-supermodularity property, we derive a purely combinatorial inequality for the parsimony score of a binary character. The proofs of our results exploit two classical theorems in the combinatorics of finite sets.
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Authors
Mike Steel, Beáta Faller,