Abstract
Scientific statements often have a probabilistic element, for example, ‘In population Ω the distribution of individual income, I, can be approximated by a log-normal distribution’. The formal interpretation of this statement requires a moderate amount of structure, such as,
The population Ω has n members, ω1, …, ωn. Associated with each ω is an income, I(ω). Each co has the same probability P(ω) of being observed so that P(ωi)= 1/n for i= 1, …, n. Finally, P(I ≤ t) = F(t, α, β,γ) for −∞ <t < ∞ where F is the 3-parameter log-normal distribution function.
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© 1990 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Savage, I.R. (1990). Random Variables. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) Time Series and Statistics. The New Palgrave. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20865-4_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20865-4_29
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