exponential distribution
noun1
Mathematics, Sciences, Statistics Any of a class of continuous probability distributions used to model the time between events that occur independently at a constant average rate.
- The exponential distribution is a basic distribution for constructing a number of other distributions. For example, the gamma distribution is obtained from the distribution of the sum of random variables where each variable follows an exponential distribution.1998, Vijay Singh, Entropy-Based Parameter Estimation in Hydrology, Kluwer Academic, page 49:
- In addition, PH distributions provide a simple framework to demonstrate how one can extend many simple results on exponential distributions to more complex models without losing computational tractability.1999, G. Latouche, V. Ramaswami, Introduction to Matrix Analytic Methods in Stochastic Modeling, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, page 33:
1 more example
- The exponential distribution was introduced briefly in Chapter 3 in connection with the Poisson discrete probability distribution function. There it was shown that if the number of failures in a given time period t was Poisson distributed, then the time to failure is distributed as an exponential distribution.2012, Kenneth S. Stephens, Reliability Data Analysis with Excel and Minitab, ASQ Quality Press, page 145:
- Synonyms
- negative exponential distribution
- Related terms
- Poisson distribution, Poisson process