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cumulative distribution function (Definition)

Let $X$ be a random variable. Define $F_X\colon R \to [0,1] $ as $F_X(x) = \Prb[X \leq x]$ for all $x$ The function $F_X(x)$ is called the cumulative distribution function of $X$

Every cumulative distribution function satisfies the following properties:

  1. $\lim_{x \to -\infty}{F_X(x)}=0$ and $\lim_{x \to +\infty}{F_X(x)}=1$
  2. $F_X$ is a monotonically nondecreasing function,
  3. $F_X$ is continuous from the right,
  4. $\Prb[a < X \leq b] = F_X(b) - F_X(a)$

If $X$ is a discrete random variable, then the cumulative distribution can be expressed as $F_X(x) = \sum_{k\leq x} \Prb[X = k]$

Similarly, if $X$ is a continuous random variable, then $F_X(x) = \int_{-\infty}^{x} f_X(y) dy$ where $f_X$ is the density distribution function.




"cumulative distribution function" is owned by bbukh. [ full author list (2) | owner history (1) ]
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See Also: distribution function, density function

Keywords:  probability
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Cross-references: density, continuous random variable, distribution, discrete random variable, continuous from the right, monotonically nondecreasing, properties, function, random variable
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This is version 5 of cumulative distribution function, born on 2001-10-26, modified 2004-03-11.
Object id is 504, canonical name is CumulativeDistributionFunction.
Accessed 10340 times total.

Classification:
AMS MSC60A99 (Probability theory and stochastic processes :: Foundations of probability theory :: Miscellaneous)

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