3 ms·
Mean of lognormal distribution: e ^ (parameter + (other parameter ^ 2) / 2) Mean of pareto (power law) distribution, where parameter < 1: infinity
by curuinor 10y ago
Mean of lognormal distribution: e ^ (parameter + (other parameter ^ 2) / 2)
Mean of pareto (power law) distribution, where parameter < 1: infinity
- danbruc 10y agoYou mean - pun not really intended - that making choices based on the mean of the supposed distribution, say for risk assessment purposes, may lead to wildly wrong conclusions? Or more generally, that characteristics of different distributions can be very different even if they fit a given dataset similarly well?
- curuinor 10y agoBoth, actually. And of mechanistic statements. For example, if you have this sort of multiplicative central limit theorem with no lower bound, where you imagine independent variables being multiplied together - the attractor of that dynamical process, the result of that universal phenomenon, is lognormal. Add a lower bound, bam, power law (champernowne 1953 "A Model of Income Distribution"). So you're really making different claims about reality.