Triangular Distribution

Basic References: Clculo de probabilidades y Estadstica . H. Fernndez-Abascal et al. (Ed. Ariel, Barcelona (SPAIN), 1994). Distributions in Statistic
1992, 1994, 1997). Copyright 2001 J.L. Rojo

The triangular distribution is a three-parameter distribution. The two first parameters, a

and b (a<b ) determine the interval (a,b) . The third parameter (Left or Right ) gives a
left (negative) or right (positive) skew. The probability density equals f(x)=2(x-a)/(ba) 2 , a<x<b for X~Tr(a,b,Left) and f(z)=2(b-z)/(b-a) 2 , a<z<b for Z~Tr(a,b,Right) .
The relevant moments are E[X]=(a+2b)/3 , E[Z]=(2a+b)/3 , Var(X)=Var(Z)=(b-a) 2 /18 ,
g 1X =-2 3/2 /45=- g 1Z , and g 2X = g 2Z =-0.6 . The distribution function of X equals F(x)=(xa) 2 /(b-a) 2 , a<x<b , and F(z)=1-(b-z) 2 /(b-a) 2 for variable Z. Using the last expressions
we find the quantiles, q r =a+(b-a)r 1/2 for X and q r =b-(b-a)(1-r) 1/2 for Z (0<r<1) .
Obviously, the mode equals Mo X =b for the left triangular distribution and Mo Z =a for
the right triangular distribution.

0.2
0.18
0.16
0.14

Prob. density

a=
0
b=
11
The parameters a and b (lower and upper values)
Skewness=
Left
can be changed with a<b. You will also write the
h=
0.18
word Left or Right in cell B5 (The first character
E[X]=
7.33
has to be a capital L or R)
Var(X)=
6.72
Std.Dev.=
2.59
11.00
Mode=
Med(X)=
7.78
Fisher g1=
-0.06
Left Skewed
Fisher g2=
-0.60
Flat
Quantiles
Distribution function
qr
r
x
F(x)
0.1
3.48
1.5
0.01860
0.25
5.50
2
0.03306
0.5
7.78
3
0.07438
0.75
9.53
4
0.13223
0.9
10.44
5
0.20661
(Enter other x-values or r-percentages)

0.12
0.1

0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0

angular Distribution

. Ariel, Barcelona (SPAIN), 1994). Distributions in Statistics . N.L. Johnson et al. (Vol. 1-4). (Ed. J. Wiley y Houghton M. Co.,
1994, 1997). Copyright 2001 J.L. Rojo

Triangular Distribution
(The horizontal scale is determined by the parametric values)

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1

Prob. density

Distribution function

10

11

12

Distribution function

Left=1, Right=0
1
(b-a)2=

121

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

0
0
0.22
0.44
0.66
0.88
1.1
1.32
1.54
1.76
1.98
2.2
2.42
2.64
2.86
3.08
3.3
3.52
3.74
3.96
4.18
4.4
4.62
4.84
5.06
5.28
5.5
5.72
5.94
6.16
6.38
6.6
6.82
7.04
7.26
7.48
7.7
7.92
8.14
8.36
8.58
8.8
9.02
9.24
9.46
9.68
9.9
10.12
10.34
10.56
10.78
11

0
0
0.00363636
0.00727273
0.01090909
0.01454545
0.01818182
0.02181818
0.02545455
0.02909091
0.03272727
0.03636364
0.04
0.04363636
0.04727273
0.05090909
0.05454545
0.05818182
0.06181818
0.06545455
0.06909091
0.07272727
0.07636364
0.08
0.08363636
0.08727273
0.09090909
0.09454545
0.09818182
0.10181818
0.10545455
0.10909091
0.11272727
0.11636364
0.12
0.12363636
0.12727273
0.13090909
0.13454545
0.13818182
0.14181818
0.14545455
0.14909091
0.15272727
0.15636364
0.16
0.16363636
0.16727273
0.17090909
0.17454545
0.17818182
0.18181818

0
0.0004
0.0016
0.0036
0.0064
0.01
0.0144
0.0196
0.0256
0.0324
0.04
0.0484
0.0576
0.0676
0.0784
0.09
0.1024
0.1156
0.1296
0.1444
0.16
0.1764
0.1936
0.2116
0.2304
0.25
0.2704
0.2916
0.3136
0.3364
0.36
0.3844
0.4096
0.4356
0.4624
0.49
0.5184
0.5476
0.5776
0.6084
0.64
0.6724
0.7056
0.7396
0.7744
0.81
0.8464
0.8836
0.9216
0.9604
1

11