Let be a statistical model with parameter space . We say that is identifiable if the mapping is one-to-one:[2]
This definition means that distinct values of θ should correspond to distinct probability distributions: if θ1≠θ2, then also Pθ1≠Pθ2.[3] If the distributions are defined in terms of the probability density functions (pdfs), then two pdfs should be considered distinct only if they differ on a set of non-zero measure (for example two functions ƒ1(x) = 10 ≤ x < 1 and ƒ2(x) = 10 ≤ x ≤ 1 differ only at a single point x = 1 — a set of measure zero — and thus cannot be considered as distinct pdfs).
Identifiability of the model in the sense of invertibility of the map is equivalent to being able to learn the model's true parameter if the model can be observed indefinitely long. Indeed, if {Xt} ⊆ S is the sequence of observations from the model, then by the strong law of large numbers,
for every measurable set A ⊆ S (here 1{...} is the indicator function). Thus, with an infinite number of observations we will be able to find the true probability distribution P0 in the model, and since the identifiability condition above requires that the map be invertible, we will also be able to find the true value of the parameter which generated given distribution P0.
This expression is equal to zero for almost all x only when all its coefficients are equal to zero, which is only possible when |σ1| = |σ2| and μ1 = μ2. Since in the scale parameter σ is restricted to be greater than zero, we conclude that the model is identifiable: ƒθ1 = ƒθ2 ⇔ θ1 = θ2.