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Say there are $n$ mean-zero random normal variables $\varepsilon_i,...,\varepsilon_n$ with a $n \times n$ covariance matrix $\Sigma$.

I have $n$ mean-zero random normal variables $u_i, ...,u_n$ which are independent from one-another but may have different variances $\sigma_i^2$ (i.e. the covariance matrix $\Sigma_u$ is diagonal).

Is it possible to write every $\varepsilon_i$ as a sum of the variables $u_1,...,u_n$ in such a way that the covariance matrix is $\Sigma$?

(Another way of phrasing the question is: can I construct a set of $n$ arbitrarily correlated random normal variables by summing $n$ independent random normal variables?)

Mich55
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    Yes. Good search terms include "QR" and "Cholesky." One *definition* of the multivariate Normal distribution is that it arises as an affine transformation of independent standard Normal variables. [This site search for "create correlated normal"](https://stats.stackexchange.com/search?q=create+correl*+normal) turns up many solutions. – whuber Mar 04 '22 at 16:02

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