This is the program for the 2010 Joint Statistical Meetings in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Abstract Details

Activity Number: 635
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Thursday, August 5, 2010 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
Sponsor: Section on Statistical Computing
Abstract - #307674
Title: A Weighted Logarithmic Distribution: Stretching the Long Tail
Author(s): Michael Terry Anderson*+ and Ram C. Tripathi+
Companies: The University of Texas at San Antonio and The University of Texas at San Antonio
Address: Department of Management Science and Statistics, San Antonio , TX, 78249, Department of Management Science and Statistics, San Antonio, TX, 78249, United States
Keywords: logarithmic distribution ; Zipf distribution ; weighted distribution ; index of dispersion ; power-series distribution ; species abundance
Abstract:

The logarithmic and Zipf distributions have long been applied to problems of species abundance and the distribution of objects occurring at different scales. Their application is limited by the fact that both distributions concentrate most of their probability mass near zero, even when overdispersed. A power-weighted logarithmic distribution overcomes this limit and provides a model that fits long-tail count data with any desired index of dispersion. Parameters for this power-series distribution can be estimated through the method of maximum likelihood. Properties of the proposed model are discussed, some applications are provided and compared with the results obtained by logarithmic and Zipf distributions.


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