Shape, Rate, Scale, and Location Parameters In Distributacalcul: Probability Distribution Functions

knitr::opts_chunk$set( collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>" )  library(Distributacalcul)  Context When I started learning about probability distributions, the parameters of distributions were simply "alpha", "beta", "mu", etc. to me. It is only when I started using R that I realized they were called "shape", "rate", and "scale" parameters. Sometimes, there was even a "location" or a "dispersion" parameter ! But what do these mean ? That's what this vignette explains. The location parameter To get a feel for this, see what happens to the density of the Normal distribution when you change$\mu$: distributacalculVis(law = "Norm", mod = "functions")  If you notice, changing$\mu$only changes where on the x-axis the density is centered or, located. We call this a location parameter. In brief, the location parameter is exactly what it sounds like. The scale parameter The scale parameter changes the scale of the distribution. To get a feel for this, try changing the scale parameter of the Gamma distribution$\beta$below from 1 to 2 to 3 : distributacalculVis(law = "Gamma", mod = "functions")  As you increase the scale parameter, the distribution becomes increasingly compressed. \ To understand why this happens mathematically, suppose we scale a random variable$X$by 3. That is to say, we multiply$X$by 3: $$\Pr(3 \times X \leq x) = \Pr\left(X \leq \frac{x}{3}\right)$$ We see that scaling up a random variable by a constant scales down the values it takes. \ Converting between centimeters and meters doesn't change a number, only its scale. Similarly, the scale parameter doesn't change the 'shape' of a distribution, only its scale. The rate parameter Mathematically, the rate parameter is one over the scale parameter :$\text{rate} = \frac{1}{\text{scale}}$. \ To understand the logic behind this, suppose that we scale a random variable$X$by$\frac{1}{3}$. That is to say, we multiply$X$by$\frac{1}{3}$: $$\Pr\left(\frac{1}{3} \times X \leq x\right) = \Pr\left(X \leq 3x\right)$$ We see that scaling down a random variable by a fraction scales up the values it takes. \ In practice, the Poisson distribution is often used to model the frequency of events. Particularly, it is used in actuarial science to model the number of accidents which occur. \ The$\lambda$parameter of a discrete Poisson random variable is a rate parameter. Enter the$\beta\$ parameter as a proportion below (0.20, 0.30, etc.) and see what changing it does :

distributacalculVis(law = "Gamma", mod = "functions")


You can observe it has the opposite effect of the scale parameter. \

In brief, mathematically the rate parameter is just the inverse of the scale parameter. In practice, however, it has very useful applications.

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Distributacalcul documentation built on Sept. 13, 2020, 5:19 p.m.