Teach Time Encyclopedia - Learn About Our World
Home Page
Teach Time
Featured Topics

United States
by state

CITYology

Academic Disciplines

Historical Timelines

Themed Timelines

Calendars

Reference Tables

Biographies

How-tos



Monday, October 13, 2008

Degenerate distribution

A degenerate distribution is the probability distribution of a random variable which always has the same value. Examples are a two-headed coin, a die that always comes up six. This doesn't sound very random, but it satisfies the definition of random variable.

The degenerate distribution is localized at a point x in the real line. On this page it is enough to think about the example localized at 0: that is, the unit measure located at 0.

The cumulative distribution function of the degenerate distribution is then the Heaviside step function:

Status of its PDF

As a discrete distribution, the degenerate distribution does not have a density.

P.A.M. Dirac's delta function can serve this purpose. But a serious theory awaited the invention of distributions by Laurent Schwartz.

NB: There is an unfortunate ambiguity in the meaning of the word distribution. The meaning given to it by Schwartz is not the meaning of the word distribution in probability theory.



Internet Hotel Solutions

Site Sponsors
AC Units
Baltimore Harbor
Boot Camp Grads
Bra Size
Burkittsville
College Hotels
Digital Harbor
Free Cell Phones
Golden Hare Travel
Golf Vacations
Golf Courses
Gourmet
Hair Styles
Hippodrome
iWoman
Lesson Plans
Maryland Hotels
MD Genealogy
Minor League Stuff
Motel Site
Ocean City
OC Real Estate
Old Agers
Office Supplies
Orlando
Pet Friendly Hotel
Room Prices
Savannah, GA
Ski Vacations
South Baltimore
Student Teaching
Travel Sources
University Hotels
Visit Military Bases
Washington, DC

Brought to you by NoChildLeftBehind.com and the Beaches and Towns Network, LLC.