Probability Density Function
The Dirichlet distribution of order K ≥ 2 with parameters α1, ..., αK > 0 has a probability density function with respect to Lebesgue measure on the Euclidean space RK-1 given by
for all x1, ..., xK–1 > 0 satisfying x1 + ... + xK–1 < 1, and where xK = 1 – x1 – ... – xK–1. The density is zero outside this open (K − 1)-dimensional simplex.
The normalizing constant is the multinomial Beta function, which can be expressed in terms of the gamma function:
Read more about this topic: Dirichlet Distribution
Famous quotes containing the words probability and/or function:
“Liberty is a blessing so inestimable, that, wherever there appears any probability of recovering it, a nation may willingly run many hazards, and ought not even to repine at the greatest effusion of blood or dissipation of treasure.”
—David Hume (17111776)
“As a medium of exchange,... worrying regulates intimacy, and it is often an appropriate response to ordinary demands that begin to feel excessive. But from a modernized Freudian view, worryingas a reflex response to demandnever puts the self or the objects of its interest into question, and that is precisely its function in psychic life. It domesticates self-doubt.”
—Adam Phillips, British child psychoanalyst. Worrying and Its Discontents, in On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored, p. 58, Harvard University Press (1993)