Parametric Families of Discrete Distributions

Family PMF Notes

Discrete 1
𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝐼 (𝑥)
Uniform 𝑁 {1,2,…..,𝑁}

Bernoulli 𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑝 𝑥 (1 − 𝑝)1−𝑥 𝐼{0,1} (𝑥)

𝑛
Binomial 𝑝𝑋 (x) = ( ) 𝑝 𝑥 (1 − 𝑝)𝑛−𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,…..,𝑛} (𝑥)
𝑥

𝐾 𝑀−𝐾
( )( )
Hypergeometric 𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑥 𝑛 − 𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,…..,𝑛} (𝑥)
𝑀
( )
𝑛

𝑒 −𝜆 𝜆𝑥
Poisson 𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝐼 (𝑥)
𝑥! {0,1,2,…..}

𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑝(1 − 𝑝) 𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,…..} (𝑥)

Geometric or
𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑝(1 − 𝑝)1−𝑥 𝐼{1,2,…..} (𝑥)

𝑟 + 𝑥 − 1 𝑟 (1
𝑝𝑋 (x) = ( )𝑝 − 𝑝)𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,…..} (𝑥)
𝑥
Negative Binomial or
𝑥 − 1 𝑟 (1
𝑝𝑋 (x) = ( )𝑝 − 𝑝)1−𝑥 𝐼{𝑟,𝑟+1,𝑟+2,…..} (𝑥)
𝑟−1