The Kaplan-Meier Estimator as a Sum over Units
arXiv:2511.04721 · doi:10.1007/s44248-026-00111-4
Abstract
A sum-wise formulation is proposed for the Kaplan-Meier product limit estimator of partially right-censored survival data. The population estimator is expressed as a sum over the individual units' empirical and semi-empirical contributions, for observed and censored failures, respectively. This intuitive decomposition is applied to visualize the different contributions of failed and censored units to the overall population estimator.
arXiv comment13 pages, 6 figures