On Mon, 2014-10-20 at 08:31 +1300, Rolf Turner wrote:
On 20/10/14 01:28, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Sat, 2014-10-18 at 01:10 +0000, Bill Oliver wrote:
>> Here's the problem. Let's say you have a set of data and you want to
>> characterize it in order to use it as the basis of a model. In order
>> to do that, you really need to know the underlying PDF.
>
> I assume you mean Probability Distribution Function, not Portable
> Document Format. That might not be clear to everyone, particularly on a
> list such as this one.
Probability *density* function, actually. :-)
It can be either Distribution or Density. Also a few other things (see
Wikipedia). That's the problem with specialist terminology where the
context isn't completely clear, e.g. we all know what ATM is when
talking about a banking network, right? (Asynchronous Transfer Mode). Or
DOS when talking about computers (Denial Of Service). I could go on.
(All *good* people would understand this! :-) )
Er ...
poc