Questions tagged [beta-distribution]

A two-parameter family of univariate distributions defined on the interval $[0,1]$.

The "Beta distribution" is a two-parameter family of continuous univariate distributions defined on the interval $[0,1]$. The probability density function of the distribution is

$$f_X(x;\alpha,\beta) = \frac{\Gamma(\alpha + \beta) }{\Gamma(\alpha) \Gamma(\beta) } x^{\alpha -1}(1-x)^{\beta-1}$$

with positive parameters $\alpha$ and $\beta$.

A common use of the distribution is in Bayesian statistics as a prior for the Binomial distribution. The Beta distribution is also used in beta regression, which can be useful when the dependent variable has a floor or ceiling effect or is bounded.

The distribution can be extended to represent random variables with support other than $[0,1]$, by using its four-parameter variant, that has the density function ($m$ = lower bound, $M$ = upper bound of the support)

$$f_X(x; \alpha, \beta, m, M) =\frac{\Gamma(\alpha + \beta) }{\Gamma(\alpha) \Gamma(\beta) } \frac{ (x-m)^{\alpha-1} (M-x)^{\beta-1} }{(M-m)^{\alpha+\beta-1}}\;$$

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How do I perform diagnostic checks on a beta regression?

I have in my study a variable that follows a beta distribution. In this case, it is: length of the thorax / wing length in a Drosophila species. My model involves two fixed cross variables and one random variable: model <- glmmTMB(RV ~ V1 * V2 + (1…
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Difference between standard beta and unstandard beta distributions?

What is the difference between standard beta and unstandard beta distributions? How to understand in an article if it is not described if it is standard or not?
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Mean and variance of a Beta distribution with $\alpha \ge 1$ or $\beta \ge 1$?

What conditions must satisfy the mean and variance of a Beta distribution so that the parameters $\alpha,\beta$ are not both less than 1?
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Approximation for Beta distribution when alpha is less than 10

I know that we can approximate Beta distribution to Normal distribution when the values of alpha and beta are large numbers. In my problem alpha lies between 1 and 10, beta is always greater than 1000. Is there any distribution (for such a…
Karthik
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When is beta distribution bell-shaped or concave?

Is there some restriction to parameters $( \alpha , \beta)$ that makes the beta distribution concave down? Bell-shaped like e.g. a normal? For example, the cases in purple and black, but not the red green or blue cases:
micheal
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$\alpha,\beta\ge 1$ in a Beta distribution. What does it imply for the mean and variance?

The Beta distribution has the PDF: $$f\left(x\right)=\frac{x^{\alpha-1}\left(1-x\right)^{\beta-1}}{\mathrm{B}\left(\alpha,\beta\right)}$$ for $0
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Beta distribution Bimodal?

The Wikipedia site for Multimodal Distributions states "Important bimodal distributions include the arcsine distribution and the beta distribution". I thought the beta distribution is unimodal.
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Iteration of the $\alpha$ parameter in a beta distribution yields a beta distribution?

I'd like to know whether starting from a beta distribution and iterating it in the way described below, I will get a stationary (beta) distribution again. More specifically this is the problem I am facing: Starting with a $\mathrm{Beta}(2,1.5)$, for…
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calculating asymmetric standard deviation of a beta distributed variable

I have data on the relative abundance of a species within a population that varies continuously on the interval [0,1]. I have divided the data into 5 categories, and would like to take estimate the mean and some level of uncertainty of the dependent…
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What is support of beta distribution?

I do know that the probability density function of beta distribution is $$ \frac{x^{\alpha-1}(1-x)^{\beta-1}} {\displaystyle \mathrm {B}(\alpha,\beta)}\! $$ where $$ {\displaystyle \mathrm {B} (\alpha ,\beta )={\frac {\Gamma (\alpha )\Gamma (\beta…
zoozoo
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Closed-form equation for $\int_{0.5}^{1} Beta(\alpha,\beta)$?

I don't know if this question is too trivial for you guys, it is not for me though... Is there a closed-form equation for $b = \int_{0.5}^{1} Beta(\alpha,\beta)$? $$ Beta = \frac{x^{\alpha-1}(1-x)^{\beta-1}}{B(\alpha,\beta)} $$ $$ B(\alpha,\beta) =…
DBS
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How do you work out the likelihood function for the beta geometric function?

I know the probability function for the beta distribution is $$p(x=k)=\frac{\prod_{i=1}^{k-1}(1-u+(i-1)\theta)}{\prod_{i=1}^{k}(1+(i-1)\theta)}$$ However I am unsure of how to derive the formula for the likelihood function of a data set with a beta…
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Intuition behind Beta Distribution's degrees of freedom

I believe this is a duplicate of this post, but I think someone can easily clarify my misunderstanding of the Beta pdf: $f(x)=\frac{\Gamma(a+b)}{\Gamma(a)\Gamma(b)}(x)^{a-1}(1-x)^{b-1}$ for $x\in[0,1]$ and $a,b>0$ where…
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How to draw u-shape distribution?

I want to build a distribution as U-shape, with the x-axis of values between [1,5] continuous, and the y-axis is probability [0,1]. I am thinking of beta distribution of alpha=beta=0.5 but couldn't figure it out. Ans suggestion?
hana
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Self Study - How does $\alpha$ and $\beta$ correspond to mean and variance of a beta distribution?

I am trying to figure out how to provide $\alpha$ and $\beta$ in terms of $\mu$ and $\sigma$ in a beta distribution. $\mu$ is given as $\mu = \frac{\alpha}{\alpha + \beta} $ $\sigma$ is given as $\sigma = \sqrt\frac{\alpha\beta}{(\alpha +…
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