The Laplace Distribution and Generalizations: A Revisit with Applications to Communications, Economics, Engineering, and Finance (Progress in Mathematics) - Hardcover

Kotz, Samuel; Kozubowski, Tomasz; Podgorski, Krzystof

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0817641661 ISBN 13: 9780817641665

Publisher: Birkhäuser, 2001

Synopsis

The aim of this monograph is quite modest: It attempts to be a systematic exposition of all that appeared in the literature and was known to us by the end of the 20th century about the Laplace distribution and its numerous generalizations and extensions. We have tried to cover both theoretical developments and applications. There were two main reasons for writing this book. The first was our conviction that the areas and situations where the Laplace distribution naturally occurs is so extensive that tracking the original sources is unfeasible. The second was our observation of the growing demand for statistical distributions having properties tangent to those exhibited by the Laplace laws. These two "necessary" conditions justified our efforts that led to this book. Many details are arranged primarily for reference, such as inclusion of the most commonly used terminology and notation. In several cases, we have proposed unification to overcome the ambiguity of notions so often present in this area. Personal taste may have done some injustice to the subject matter by omitting or emphasizing certain topics due to space limitations. We trust that this feature does not constitute a serious drawback-in our literature search we tried to leave no stone unturned (we collected over 400 references).

About this title

Review

From the reviews:

“This book will be useful for those who are interested in tractable models which allow one to go beyond the normal distribution.” (ISI SHORT BOOK REVIEWS)

“ A useful source of information for research in applied and theoretical statistics. No doubt, this volume will become a necessary part of any mathematical and statistical library as well as of a number of technical libraries.”(MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS)

“This book is devoted to presenting properties, generalizations and applications of the Laplace distribution ... This distribution is a natural and sometimes superior alternative to the normal distribution ... The rich set of exercises is an integral part of the discussion.”(ZENTRALBLATT MATH)

Synopsis

This work focuses on the importance of reviving the Laplace distribution and describes the inferential and modelling advantages which this distribution offers. The book shows that the Laplace distribution is useful in promoting an understanding of maximum likelihood estimation. There is a historical introducution to the subject followed by coverage of the univariate Laplace distribution, and the book provides many examples, problems and exercises that cover the subject.

Edition details

• Publisher: Birkhäuser
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0817641661
• ISBN 13: 9780817641665
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 367