A note on the IPF algorithm when the marginal problem is unsolvable

A note on the IPF algorithm when the marginal problem is unsolvable Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic provides access to digitized documents strictly for personal use. Each copy of any part of this document must contain these Terms of use. This paper has been digitized, optimized for electronic delivery and stamped with digital signature within the project DML-CZ: The Czech Digital Mathematics Library In this paper we analyze the asymptotic behavior of the IPF algorithm for the problem of finding a 2 x 2 x 2 contingency table whose pair marginals are all equal to a specified 2x2 table, depending on a parameter. When this parameter lies below a certain threshold the marginal problem has no solution. We show that in this case the IPF has a "period three limit cycle" attracting all positive initial tables, and a bifurcation occur when the parameter crosses the threshold.