NormalDistribution Class

Represents a normal (Gaussian) distribution.

Definition

Namespace: Meta.Numerics.Statistics.Distributions
Assembly: Meta.Numerics (in Meta.Numerics.dll) Version: 4.2.0+6d77d64445f7d5d91b12e331399c4362ecb25333
C#
public sealed class NormalDistribution : ContinuousDistribution
Inheritance
Object    UnivariateDistribution    ContinuousDistribution    NormalDistribution

Remarks

A normal distribution is a bell-shaped curve centered at its mean and falling off symmetrically on each side. It is a two-parameter distribution determined by giving its mean and standard deviation, i.e. its center and width. Its range is the entire real number line, but the tails, i.e. points more than a few standard deviations from the means, fall off extremely rapidly.

A normal distribution with mean zero and standard deviation one is called a standard normal distribution. Any normal distribution can be converted to a standard normal distribution by re-parameterizing the data in terms of "standard deviations from the mean", i.e. z = (x - μ) / σ.

Normal distribution appear in many contexts. In practical work, the normal distribution is often used as a crude model for the distribution of any continuous parameter that tends to cluster near its average, for example human height and weight. In more refined theoretical work, the normal distribution often emerges as a limiting distribution. For example, it can be shown that, if a large number of errors affect a measurement, then for nearly any underlying distribution of error terms, the distribution of total error tends toward a normal distribution.

The normal distribution is often called a Gaussian, after the mathematician Friedrich Gauss.

Constructors

NormalDistribution Initializes a new standard normal distribution.
NormalDistribution(Double, Double) Initializes a new normal distribution with the given mean and standard deviation.

Properties

ExcessKurtosis Gets the excess kurtosis of the distribution.
(Overrides UnivariateDistributionExcessKurtosis)
Mean Gets the mean of the distribution.
(Overrides UnivariateDistributionMean)
Median Gets the median of the distribution.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionMedian)
Skewness Gets the skewness of the distribution.
(Overrides UnivariateDistributionSkewness)
StandardDeviation Gets the standard deviation of the distribution.
(Overrides UnivariateDistributionStandardDeviation)
Support Gets the interval over which the distribution is non-vanishing.
(Inherited from ContinuousDistribution)
Variance Gets the variance of the distribution.
(Inherited from UnivariateDistribution)

Methods

CentralMoment Computes a central moment of the distribution.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionCentralMoment(Int32))
Cumulant Computes a cumulant of the distribution.
(Overrides UnivariateDistributionCumulant(Int32))
EqualsDetermines whether the specified object is equal to the current object.
(Inherited from Object)
ExpectationValue Computes the expectation value of the given function.
(Inherited from ContinuousDistribution)
FitToSample Computes the normal distribution that best fits the given sample.
GetHashCodeServes as the default hash function.
(Inherited from Object)
GetRandomValue Generates a random variate.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionGetRandomValue(Random))
GetRandomValues Generates the given number of random variates.
(Inherited from ContinuousDistribution)
GetTypeGets the Type of the current instance.
(Inherited from Object)
Hazard Computes the hazard function.
(Inherited from ContinuousDistribution)
InverseLeftProbability Returns the point at which the cumulative distribution function attains a given value.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionInverseLeftProbability(Double))
InverseRightProbability Returns the point at which the right probability function attains the given value.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionInverseRightProbability(Double))
LeftProbability Returns the cumulative probability to the left of (below) the given point.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionLeftProbability(Double))
ProbabilityDensity Returns the probability density at the given point.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionProbabilityDensity(Double))
RawMoment Computes a raw moment of the distribution.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionRawMoment(Int32))
RightProbability Returns the cumulative probability to the right of (above) the given point.
(Overrides ContinuousDistributionRightProbability(Double))
ToStringReturns a string that represents the current object.
(Inherited from Object)

See Also