(maxima.info)Introduction to distrib

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52.1 Introduction to distrib
============================

Package 'distrib' contains a set of functions for making probability
computations on both discrete and continuous univariate models.

   What follows is a short reminder of basic probabilistic related
definitions.

   Let f(x) be the <density function> of an absolute continuous random
variable X. The <distribution function> is defined as
                            x
                           /
                           [
                    F(x) = I     f(u) du
                           ]
                           /
                            minf
   which equals the probability <Pr(X <= x)>.

   The <mean> value is a localization parameter and is defined as
                          inf
                         /
                         [
                E[X]  =  I   x f(x) dx
                         ]
                         /
                          minf

   The <variance> is a measure of variation,
                      inf
                     /
                     [                    2
              V[X] = I     f(x) (x - E[X])  dx
                     ]
                     /
                      minf
   which is a positive real number.  The square root of the variance is
the <standard deviation>, D[X]=sqrt(V[X]), and it is another measure of
variation.

   The <skewness coefficient> is a measure of non-symmetry,
                      inf
                     /
                 1   [                    3
       SK[X] = ----- I     f(x) (x - E[X])  dx
                   3 ]
               D[X]  /
                      minf

   And the <kurtosis coefficient> measures the peakedness of the
distribution,
                      inf
                     /
                 1   [                    4
       KU[X] = ----- I     f(x) (x - E[X])  dx - 3
                   4 ]
               D[X]  /
                      minf
   If X is gaussian, KU[X]=0.  In fact, both skewness and kurtosis are
shape parameters used to measure the non-gaussianity of a distribution.

   If the random variable X is discrete, the density, or <probability>,
function f(x) takes positive values within certain countable set of
numbers x_i, and zero elsewhere.  In this case, the distribution
function is
                            ====
                            \
                     F(x) =  >    f(x )
                            /        i
                            ====
                           x <= x
                            i

   The mean, variance, standard deviation, skewness coefficient and
kurtosis coefficient take the form
                            ====
                            \
                     E[X] =  >  x  f(x ) ,
                            /    i    i
                            ====
                             x
                              i

                     ====
                     \                     2
             V[X] =   >    f(x ) (x - E[X])  ,
                     /        i    i
                     ====
                      x
                       i

                    D[X] = sqrt(V[X]),

                          ====
                   1      \                     3
       SK[X] =  -------    >    f(x ) (x - E[X])
                D[X]^3    /        i    i
                          ====
                           x
                            i
   and
                          ====
                   1      \                     4
       KU[X] =  -------    >    f(x ) (x - E[X])   - 3 ,
                D[X]^4    /        i    i
                          ====
                           x
                            i
   respectively.

   There is a naming convention in package 'distrib'.  Every function
name has two parts, the first one makes reference to the function or
parameter we want to calculate,
     Functions:
        Density function            (pdf_*)
        Distribution function       (cdf_*)
        Quantile                    (quantile_*)
        Mean                        (mean_*)
        Variance                    (var_*)
        Standard deviation          (std_*)
        Skewness coefficient        (skewness_*)
        Kurtosis coefficient        (kurtosis_*)
        Random variate              (random_*)

   The second part is an explicit reference to the probabilistic model,
     Continuous distributions:
        Normal              (*normal)
        Student             (*student_t)
        Chi^2               (*chi2)
        Noncentral Chi^2    (*noncentral_chi2)
        F                   (*f)
        Exponential         (*exp)
        Lognormal           (*lognormal)
        Gamma               (*gamma)
        Beta                (*beta)
        Continuous uniform  (*continuous_uniform)
        Logistic            (*logistic)
        Pareto              (*pareto)
        Weibull             (*weibull)
        Rayleigh            (*rayleigh)
        Laplace             (*laplace)
        Cauchy              (*cauchy)
        Gumbel              (*gumbel)

     Discrete distributions:
        Binomial             (*binomial)
        Poisson              (*poisson)
        Bernoulli            (*bernoulli)
        Geometric            (*geometric)
        Discrete uniform     (*discrete_uniform)
        hypergeometric       (*hypergeometric)
        Negative binomial    (*negative_binomial)
        Finite discrete      (*general_finite_discrete)

   For example, 'pdf_student_t(x,n)' is the density function of the
Student distribution with <n> degrees of freedom, 'std_pareto(a,b)' is
the standard deviation of the Pareto distribution with parameters <a>
and <b> and 'kurtosis_poisson(m)' is the kurtosis coefficient of the
Poisson distribution with mean <m>.

   In order to make use of package 'distrib' you need first to load it
by typing
     (%i1) load("distrib")$

   For comments, bugs or suggestions, please contact the author at
<'riotorto AT yahoo DOT com'>.