exponential distribution

Noun

exponential distribution (plural exponential distributions)

1. Any of a class of continuous probability distributions used to model the time between events that occur independently at a constant average rate.
   • The exponential distribution is a basic distribution for constructing a number of other distributions. For example, the gamma distribution is obtained from the distribution of the sum of random variables where each variable follows an exponential distribution.1998, Vijay Singh, Entropy-Based Parameter Estimation in Hydrology, Kluwer Academic, page 49
   • In addition, PH distributions provide a simple framework to demonstrate how one can extend many simple results on exponential distributions to more complex models without losing computational tractability.1999, G. Latouche, V. Ramaswami, Introduction to Matrix Analytic Methods in Stochastic Modeling, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, page 33

   Synonyms:

   negative exponential distribution