Given a mean and standard-deviation defining a normal distribution, how would you calculate the following probabilities in pure-Python (i.e. no Numpy/Scipy or other packages not in the standard library)?
- The probability of a random variable r where r < x or r <= x.
- The probability of a random variable r where r > x or r >= x.
- The probability of a random variable r where x > r > y.
I've found some libraries, like Pgnumerics, that provide functions for calculating these, but the underlying math is unclear to me.
Edit: To show this isn't homework, posted below is my working code for Python<=2.6, albeit I'm not sure if it handles the boundary conditions correctly.
from math import *
import unittest
def erfcc(x):
"""
Complementary error function.
"""
z = abs(x)
t = 1. / (1. + 0.5*z)
r = t * exp(-z*z-1.26551223+t*(1.00002368+t*(.37409196+
t*(.09678418+t*(-.18628806+t*(.27886807+
t*(-1.13520398+t*(1.48851587+t*(-.82215223+
t*.17087277)))))))))
if (x >= 0.):
return r
else:
return 2. - r
def normcdf(x, mu, sigma):
t = x-mu;
y = 0.5*erfcc(-t/(sigma*sqrt(2.0)));
if y>1.0:
y = 1.0;
return y
def normpdf(x, mu, sigma):
u = (x-mu)/abs(sigma)
y = (1/(sqrt(2*pi)*abs(sigma)))*exp(-u*u/2)
return y
def normdist(x, mu, sigma, f):
if f:
y = normcdf(x,mu,sigma)
else:
y = normpdf(x,mu,sigma)
return y
def normrange(x1, x2, mu, sigma, f=True):
"""
Calculates probability of random variable falling between two points.
"""
p1 = normdist(x1, mu, sigma, f)
p2 = normdist(x2, mu, sigma, f)
return abs(p1-p2)