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exponential random variable (Definition)

$X$ is a exponential random variable with parameter $\lambda>0$ if its probability density function is given for $x>0$ by

$\displaystyle f_X(x) = \lambda e^{-\lambda x}.$    

To denote this, one usually writes $X\sim Exp(\lambda)$ .

For an exponential random variable $X$ :

  1. $X$ is commonly used to model lifetimes and duration between Poisson events.
  2. The expected value of $X$ is given by $E[X] = \frac{1}{\lambda}$
  3. The variance of $X$ is given by $Var[X] = \frac{1}{\lambda^2}$
  4. The moments of $X$ are given by $M_X(t) = \frac{\lambda}{\lambda - t}$
  5. It is interesting to note that $X$ is a gamma random variable with an $\alpha$ parameter of 1.




"exponential random variable" is owned by mathcam. [ full author list (3) | owner history (2) ]
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Other names:  exponential distribution
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Cross-references: gamma random variable, moments, variance, expected value, events, probability density function, parameter
There are 11 references to this entry.

This is version 4 of exponential random variable, born on 2001-10-26, modified 2004-04-09.
Object id is 528, canonical name is ExponentialRandomVariable.
Accessed 21722 times total.

Classification:
AMS MSC62E15 (Statistics :: Distribution theory :: Exact distribution theory)

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