How does ar.yw estimate the variance - r

Question

In R, how does the function ar.yw estimate the variance? Specifically, where does the number "var.pred" come from? It does not seem to come from the usual YW estimate of the variance, nor the sum of squared residuals divided by df (even though there is disagreement about what the df should be, none of the choices give an answer equivalent to var.pred). And yes, I know that there are better methods than YW; just trying to figure out what R is doing.
set.seed(82346)
temp <- arima.sim(n=10, list(ar = 0.5), sd=1)
fit <- ar(temp, method = "yule-walker", demean = FALSE, aic=FALSE, order.max=1)
## R's estimate of the sigma squared
fit$var.pred
## YW estimate
sum(temp^2)/10 - fit$ar*sum(temp[2:10]*temp[1:9])/10
## YW if there was a mean
sum((temp-mean(temp))^2)/10 - fit$ar*sum((temp[2:10]-mean(temp))*(temp[1:9]-mean(temp)))/10
## estimate based on residuals, different possible df.
sum(na.omit(fit$resid^2))/10
sum(na.omit(fit$resid^2))/9
sum(na.omit(fit$resid^2))/8
sum(na.omit(fit$resid^2))/7

Answer 1

Need to read the code if it's not documented.
?ar.yw
Which says: "In ar.yw the variance matrix of the innovations is computed from the fitted coefficients and the autocovariance of x." If that is not enough explanation, then you need to look at the code:
methods(ar.yw)
#[1] ar.yw.default* ar.yw.mts*
#see '?methods' for accessing help and source code
getAnywhere(ar.yw.default)
# there are two cases that I see
x <- as.matrix(x)
nser <- ncol(x)
if (nser > 1L) # .... not your situation
#....
else{
r <- as.double(drop(xacf))
z <- .Fortran(C_eureka, as.integer(order.max), r, r,
coefs = double(order.max^2), vars = double(order.max),
double(order.max))
coefs <- matrix(z$coefs, order.max, order.max)
partialacf <- array(diag(coefs), dim = c(order.max, 1L,
1L))
var.pred <- c(r[1L], z$vars)
#.......
order <- if (aic)
(0L:order.max)[xaic == 0L]
else order.max
ar <- if (order)
coefs[order, seq_len(order)]
else numeric()
var.pred <- var.pred[order + 1L]
var.pred <- var.pred * n.used/(n.used - (order + 1L))
So you now need to find the Fortran code for C_eureka. I think I'm finding it here: https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk/src/library/stats/src/eureka.f This is the code that aI think is returning the var.pred estimate. I'm not a time series guy and It's your responsibility to review this process for applicability to your problem.
subroutine eureka (lr,r,g,f,var,a)
c
c solves Toeplitz matrix equation toep(r)f=g(1+.)
c by Levinson's algorithm
c a is a workspace of size lr, the number
c of equations
c
snipped
c estimate the innovations variance
var(l) = var(l-1) * (1 - f(l,l)*f(l,l))
if (l .eq. lr) return
d = 0.0d0
q = 0.0d0
do 50 i = 1, l
k = l-i+2
d = d + a(i)*r(k)
q = q + f(l,i)*r(k)
50 continue