NormalDistribution

Normal probability distribution object

Description

A NormalDistribution object consists of parameters, a model description, and sample data for a normal probability distribution.

The normal distribution, sometimes called the Gaussian distribution, is a two-parameter family of curves. The usual justification for using the normal distribution for modeling is the Central Limit theorem, which states (roughly) that the sum of independent samples from any distribution with finite mean and variance converges to the normal distribution as the sample size goes to infinity.

The normal distribution uses the following parameters.

Parameter	Description	Support
mu (μ)	Mean	$$-\infty <\mu <\infty$$
sigma (σ)	Standard deviation	$$\sigma \ge 0$$

Creation

There are several ways to create a NormalDistribution probability distribution object.

• Create a distribution with specified parameter values using makedist.

• Fit a distribution to data using fitdist.

• Interactively fit a distribution to data using the Distribution Fitter app.

Properties

Distribution Parameters

mu — Mean

scalar value

Mean of the normal distribution, specified as a scalar value.

Data Types: single | double

sigma — Standard deviation

nonnegative scalar value

Standard deviation of the normal distribution, specified as a nonnegative scalar value.

You can specify sigma to be zero when you create an object by using makedist. Some object functions support an object pd with zero standard deviation. For example, random(pd) always returns mu, and cdf(pd,x) returns either 0 or 1. The output is 0 if x is smaller than mu, and 1 otherwise. mean, std, and var return the mean, standard deviation, and variance of pd, respectively.

Data Types: single | double

Distribution Characteristics

IsTruncated — Logical flag for truncated distribution

0 | 1

This property is read-only.

Logical flag for truncated distribution, specified as a logical value. If IsTruncated equals 0, the distribution is not truncated. If IsTruncated equals 1, the distribution is truncated.

Data Types: logical

NumParameters — Number of parameters

positive integer value

This property is read-only.

Number of parameters for the probability distribution, specified as a positive integer value.

Data Types: double

ParameterCovariance — Covariance matrix of the parameter estimates

matrix of scalar values

This property is read-only.

Covariance matrix of the parameter estimates, specified as a p-by-p matrix, where p is the number of parameters in the distribution. The (i,j) element is the covariance between the estimates of the ith parameter and the jth parameter. The (i,i) element is the estimated variance of the ith parameter. If parameter i is fixed rather than estimated by fitting the distribution to data, then the (i,i) elements of the covariance matrix are 0.

Data Types: double

ParameterIsFixed — Logical flag for fixed parameters

array of logical values

This property is read-only.

Logical flag for fixed parameters, specified as an array of logical values. If 0, the corresponding parameter in the ParameterNames array is not fixed. If 1, the corresponding parameter in the ParameterNames array is fixed.

Data Types: logical

ParameterValues — Distribution parameter values

vector of scalar values

This property is read-only.

Distribution parameter values, specified as a vector of scalar values.

Data Types: single | double

Truncation — Truncation interval

vector of scalar values

This property is read-only.

Truncation interval for the probability distribution, specified as a vector of scalar values containing the lower and upper truncation boundaries.

Data Types: single | double

Other Object Properties

DistributionName — Probability distribution name

character vector

This property is read-only.

Probability distribution name, specified as a character vector.

Data Types: char

InputData — Data used for distribution fitting

structure

This property is read-only.

Data used for distribution fitting, specified as a structure containing the following:

• data: Data vector used for distribution fitting.

• cens: Censoring vector, or empty if none.

• freq: Frequency vector, or empty if none.

Data Types: struct

ParameterDescription — Distribution parameter descriptions

cell array of character vectors

This property is read-only.

Distribution parameter descriptions, specified as a cell array of character vectors. Each cell contains a short description of one distribution parameter.

Data Types: char

ParameterNames — Distribution parameter names

cell array of character vectors

This property is read-only.

Distribution parameter names, specified as a cell array of character vectors.

Data Types: char

Object Functions

cdf	Cumulative distribution function
gather	Gather properties of Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox object from GPU
icdf	Inverse cumulative distribution function
iqr	Interquartile range of probability distribution
mean	Mean of probability distribution
median	Median of probability distribution
negloglik	Negative loglikelihood of probability distribution
paramci	Confidence intervals for probability distribution parameters
pdf	Probability density function
plot	Plot probability distribution object
proflik	Profile likelihood function for probability distribution
random	Random numbers
std	Standard deviation of probability distribution
truncate	Truncate probability distribution object
var	Variance of probability distribution

Examples

Create a Normal Distribution Object Using Default Parameters

Create a normal distribution object using the default parameter values.

pd = makedist('Normal')

pd = 
  NormalDistribution

  Normal distribution
       mu = 0
    sigma = 1

Create a Normal Distribution Object Using Specified Parameters

Create a normal distribution object by specifying the parameter values.

pd = makedist('Normal','mu',75,'sigma',10)

pd = 
  NormalDistribution

  Normal distribution
       mu = 75
    sigma = 10

Compute the interquartile range of the distribution.

r = iqr(pd)

r = 13.4898

Fit Normal Distribution Object

Load the sample data and create a vector containing the first column of student exam grade data.

load examgrades
x = grades(:,1);

Create a normal distribution object by fitting it to the data.

pd = fitdist(x,'Normal')

pd = 
  NormalDistribution

  Normal distribution
       mu = 75.0083   [73.4321, 76.5846]
    sigma =  8.7202   [7.7391, 9.98843]

The intervals next to the parameter estimates are the 95% confidence intervals for the distribution parameters.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation

Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• You must create a probability distribution object by fitting a probability distribution to sample data from the fitdist function. For the usage notes and limitations of fitdist, see Code Generation of fitdist.

• These object functions support code generation: cdf, icdf, iqr, mean, median, pdf, std, truncate, and var.

For more information on code generation, see Introduction to Code Generation and Code Generation for Probability Distribution Objects.

GPU Arrays

Accelerate code by running on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• NormalDistribution can be a probability distribution object fitted by using fitdist with GPU array input arguments.

• The object functions of NormalDistribution fully support GPU arrays.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions on a GPU (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced in R2013a