On 1/31/16 4:18 AM, Gilles wrote: > Hello. > > In "RealDistribution.java", the Javadoc does not explain why the > method "getNumericalMean()" is named that way, and not simply > "getMean()". > > What could the mean be, if not numerical?
If Mikl is still listening, he can chime in with why exactly he chose to put "numerical" in the characteristic names when these were introduced in MATH-385; but I suspect it was to make it clear that what is being returned is not necessarily a closed form, analytical value, like, e.g. the mean of a Gaussian distribution. In some cases, these characteristics are identically NaN (e.g. Cauchy distribution), in others (e.g. Weibull, Zipf) they are numerical approximations and in some cases they are exact, computed from the distribution parameters. The distinction may be a bit pedantic, given that we don't make it elsewhere. Phil > > Regards, > Gilles > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@commons.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@commons.apache.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@commons.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@commons.apache.org
