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Arcsine distribution

Type of probability distribution From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arcsine distribution
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In probability theory, the arcsine distribution is the probability distribution whose cumulative distribution function involves the arcsine and the square root:

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for 0  x  1, and whose probability density function is

on (0, 1). The standard arcsine distribution is a special case of the beta distribution with α = β = 1/2. That is, if is an arcsine-distributed random variable, then . By extension, the arcsine distribution is a special case of the Pearson type I distribution.

The arcsine distribution appears in the Lévy arcsine law, in the Erdős arcsine law, and as the Jeffreys prior for the probability of success of a Bernoulli trial.[1][2] The arcsine probability density is a distribution that appears in several random-walk fundamental theorems. In a fair coin toss random walk, the probability for the time of the last visit to the origin is distributed as an (U-shaped) arcsine distribution.[3][4] In a two-player fair-coin-toss game, a player is said to be in the lead if the random walk (that started at the origin) is above the origin. The most probable number of times that a given player will be in the lead, in a game of length 2N, is not N. On the contrary, N is the least likely number of times that the player will be in the lead. The most likely number of times in the lead is 0 or 2N (following the arcsine distribution).

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Generalization

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Arbitrary bounded support

The distribution can be expanded to include any bounded support from a  x  b by a simple transformation

for a  x  b, and whose probability density function is

on (a, b).

Shape factor

The generalized standard arcsine distribution on (0,1) with probability density function

is also a special case of the beta distribution with parameters .

Note that when the general arcsine distribution reduces to the standard distribution listed above.

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Properties

  • Arcsine distribution is closed under translation and scaling by a positive factor
    • If
  • The square of an arcsine distribution over (-1, 1) has arcsine distribution over (0, 1)
    • If
  • The coordinates of points uniformly selected on a circle of radius centered at the origin (0, 0), have an distribution
    • For example, if we select a point uniformly on the circumference, , we have that the point's x coordinate distribution is , and its y coordinate distribution is
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Characteristic function

The characteristic function of the generalized arcsine distribution is a zero order Bessel function of the first kind, multiplied by a complex exponential, given by . For the special case of , the characteristic function takes the form of .

  • If U and V are i.i.d uniform (−π,π) random variables, then , , , and all have an distribution.
  • If is the generalized arcsine distribution with shape parameter supported on the finite interval [a,b] then
  • If X ~ Cauchy(0, 1) then has a standard arcsine distribution
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References

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Further reading

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