3

I have this distribution.

Now, what I am unsure about, is how to describe the left side of the distribution, specifically, where it shows a small increase at the start, but then drops.

Like, what special terms do we use to describe these kinds of things? Or, if there are multiple things like this, what do we say to explain it?

Any assistance is much appreciated - thanks!

enter image description here

  • 1
    I would focus less on the dip and more on the second bump. Distributions with more than one bump are called bimodal (or multimodal). Assuming the bump on the left isn't noise, the distribution in your picture would be weakly bimodal. – EssentialAnonymity Dec 22 '20 at 00:11
  • Thanks for that. Though, as a general comment, what could we say about the dip? Is it an outlier. If so, what does it indicate in terms of being "unusual" or not? – shrewd.jude Dec 22 '20 at 00:13
  • 1
    The least frequent value (the dip) between two modes is known as an antimode. – EssentialAnonymity Dec 22 '20 at 00:19
  • I see. So, say if there were multiple dips between the bumps in the distribution, would that suggest we have a number of least frequent values? – shrewd.jude Dec 22 '20 at 00:27
  • 1
    They aren't exactly least frequent. There are values on either tail of the distribution that are extremely unlikely; I guess those would be the least frequent values. A value in the dip is the least frequent only with respect to the bumps that surround it. Most of this confusion goes away if you switch to thinking about area under the curve of the probability density function. You can compare the probability associated with the dip to any other part of the distribution by integrating. – EssentialAnonymity Dec 22 '20 at 18:16
  • 1
    Thanks for your help! – shrewd.jude Dec 22 '20 at 19:01

0 Answers0