Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In probability theory and statistics, the moment-generating function of a real-valued random variable is an alternative specification of its probability distribution.Thus, it provides the basis of an alternative route to analytical results compared with working directly with probability density functions or cumulative distribution functions.
The characteristic function always exists when treated as a function of a real-valued argument, unlike the moment-generating function. There are relations between the behavior of the characteristic function of a distribution and properties of the distribution, such as the existence of moments and the existence of a density function.
In probability theory, it is possible to approximate the moments of a function f of a random variable X using Taylor expansions, provided that f is sufficiently differentiable and that the moments of X are finite. A simulation-based alternative to this approximation is the application of Monte Carlo simulations.
In statistics, the method of moments is a method of estimation of population parameters.The same principle is used to derive higher moments like skewness and kurtosis.. It starts by expressing the population moments (i.e., the expected values of powers of the random variable under consideration) as functions of the parameters of interest.
So the cumulant generating function is the logarithm of the moment generating function = (). The first cumulant is the expected value ; the second and third cumulants are respectively the second and third central moments (the second central moment is the variance ); but the higher cumulants are neither moments nor central moments, but ...
The moment generating function of a real random variable is the expected value of , as a function of the real parameter . For a normal distribution with density f {\displaystyle f} , mean μ {\displaystyle \mu } and variance σ 2 {\textstyle \sigma ^{2}} , the moment generating function exists and is equal to
This implies that it cannot have a defined moment generating function in a neighborhood of zero. [9] Indeed, the expected value E [ e t X ] {\displaystyle \operatorname {E} [e^{tX}]} is not defined for any positive value of the argument t {\displaystyle t} , since the defining integral diverges.
The nth moment about the mean (or nth central moment) of a real-valued random variable X is the quantity μ n := E[(X − E[X]) n], where E is the expectation operator.For a continuous univariate probability distribution with probability density function f(x), the nth moment about the mean μ is