26.5 Distributions

Octave has functions for computing the Probability Density Function (PDF), the Cumulative Distribution function (CDF), and the quantile (the inverse of the CDF) for arbitrary user-defined distributions (discrete) and for experimental data (empirical).

The following table summarizes the supported distributions (in alphabetical order).

Distribution PDF CDF Quantile
Univariate Discrete Distribution discrete_pdf discrete_cdf discrete_inv
Empirical Distribution empirical_pdf empirical_cdf empirical_inv
: discrete_pdf (x, v, p)

For each element of x, compute the probability density function (PDF) at x of a univariate discrete distribution which assumes the values in v with probabilities p.

: discrete_cdf (x, v, p)

For each element of x, compute the cumulative distribution function (CDF) at x of a univariate discrete distribution which assumes the values in v with probabilities p.

: discrete_inv (x, v, p)

For each element of x, compute the quantile (the inverse of the CDF) at x of the univariate distribution which assumes the values in v with probabilities p.

: empirical_pdf (x, data)

For each element of x, compute the probability density function (PDF) at x of the empirical distribution obtained from the univariate sample data.

: empirical_cdf (x, data)

For each element of x, compute the cumulative distribution function (CDF) at x of the empirical distribution obtained from the univariate sample data.

: empirical_inv (x, data)

For each element of x, compute the quantile (the inverse of the CDF) at x of the empirical distribution obtained from the univariate sample data.

© 1996–2020 John W. Eaton
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https://octave.org/doc/v6.3.0/Distributions.html