You are on page 1of 3

Discrete Uniform Distribution

Basic References: Clculo de probabilidades y Estadstica. H. Fernndez-Abascal et al. (Ed. Ariel, Barcelona (SPAIN), 1994) Distributions in Statistics. N.L. Johnson et al. (Vol. 1-4). (Ed. J. Wiley y
Houghton M. Co., 1992, 1994, 1997). Copyright 2001 J.L. Rojo

Mode(s)=

All the N values

Med(X)=
Fisher 1=
Fisher =

5.000
0.000

The parameters, say N (number of


values), a and b (lower and upper
values) can be changed with a<b and
N<20. (h is the interval between two
consecutive values, and is computed
by the program)

Discrete Uniform Distribution


0.12

2.5

0.1

Symmetric

-1.224
Flat
Quantiles
Distribution function
qr
r
x
F(x)
0.1
1
0
0.00000
0.25
3
1
0.10000
0.5
5
2
0.20000
0.75
8
3
0.30000
0.9
9
4
0.40000
(Enter other x-values or r-percentages)

0.08
1.5
0.06
1
0.04
0.5

0.02

0
1

Prob. mass function


A random variable, X, has a Discrete Uniform distribution if there are
equal probabilities for N equally spaced values between a lower limit, a,
and an upper limit, b (a<b). The probability mass function of X equals
p[X=a+(j-1)h]=1/N, for j=1,...,N, h being the interval between two
consecutive values, h=(b-a)/(N-1). The standard form of the discrete
uniform distribution is obtained by setting Y=1+(X-a)/h. The values taken
by Y are 1,2,...,N with equal probabilities for (a=1, b=N, h=1, p[Y=j]=1/N,
j=1,...,N). Moments of X follow the formulas E[X]=a+h(N-1)/2
(E[Y]=(N+1)/2), Var(X)=h2(N2-1)/12 (Var(Y)=(N2-1)/12), 3=0, 4=h4(3N2-7)
(N2-1)/240 for X (central third and fourth moments for Y are obtained by
making h equal to unity). Obviously, every value is a mode. The median
equals MeX=a+(N/2-1)h if N is even, and MeX=E[X] if N is odd. The
skewness and (excess of) kurtosis coefficients are derived from the
previous moments, 1=0, 2=[3(3N2-7)]/[5(N2-1)]-3.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Distribution function

Distribution function

10
1
10
1.000
5.5
8.250
2.872

Prob. mass function

N=
a=
b=
h=
E[X]=
Var(X)=
Std. Dev.(X)=

N/2=
Integer part of N/2=
Computing Distr. Function
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4

5
5

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
2

You might also like