The exponentiated Weibull distribution: a survey

A review is given of the exponentiated Weibull distribution, the first generalization of the two-parameter Weibull distribution to accommodate nonmonotone hazard rates. The properties reviewed include: moments, order statistics, characterizations, generalizations and related distributions, transformations, graphical estimation, maximum likelihood estimation, Bayes estimation, other estimation, discrimination, goodness of fit tests, regression models, applications, multivariate generalizations, and computer software. Some of the results given are new and hitherto unknown. It is hoped that this review could serve as an important reference and encourage developments of further generalizations of the two-parameter Weibull distribution.     

The product <Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis> density distribution arising from the product of two Student’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis> PDFs

The Student’s t distribution has become increasingly prominent and is considered as a competitor to the normal distribution. Motivated by real examples in Physics, decision sciences and Bayesian statistics, a new t distribution is introduced by taking the product of two Student’s t pdfs. Various structural properties of this distribution are derived, including its cdf, moments, mean deviation about the mean, mean deviation about the median, entropy, asymptotic distribution of the extreme order statistics, maximum likelihood estimates and the Fisher information matrix. Finally, an application to a Bayesian testing problem is illustrated.     

Useful moment and CDF formulations for the COM–Poisson distribution

The Poisson distribution is as important for discrete events as the normal distribution is to large sample data. In this note, we discuss a generalized Poisson distribution recently introduced in the statistics literature. We derive—for the first time—exact and explicit expressions for its moments and the cumulative distribution function for the case of over-dispersion. Computational issues are discussed to show the real value of these expressions.     

Laplace random variables with application to price indices

Laplace distributions are becoming increasingly popular models in economics and finance. In this note, the exact distribution of the ratio Z=|X/Y| is derived when X and Y are independent Laplace random variables. This distribution arises when one is interested in comparing the performances of two economic or financial entities. We consider estimation issues of the distribution and illustrate an application for consumer price indices from the six major economics. Several computer programs are given for implementation of the methods used.     

The Kotz-type distribution with applications

The Kotz-type distribution was introduced by Kotz (1975) as a generalization of the multivariate normal distribution. Since 1990 there has been a surge of activity relating to this distribution. We have identified some 25 papers on the Kotz-type distribution over the period from 1990 to 2002 - compared to just 5 over the period from 1980 to 1989. The aim of this paper is to review the developments in the following areas: marginal distributions; moments; characteristic functions; characterizations; asymptotics; quadratic forms; estimation; hypothesis testing; generalizations; Bayesian inference; and, applications in other areas such as ecology, discriminant analysis, mathematical finance, repeated measurements, shape theory and signal processing. We feel that this review could be important as a source of reference and for unlocking further research on the distribution.