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The probability distribution of the sum of two or more independent random variables is the convolution of their individual distributions. The term is motivated by the fact that the probability mass function or probability density function of a sum of independent random variables is the convolution of their corresponding probability mass functions or probability density functions respectively.
This means that the sum of two independent normally distributed random variables is normal, with its mean being the sum of the two means, and its variance being the sum of the two variances (i.e., the square of the standard deviation is the sum of the squares of the standard deviations). [1]
In probability theory, the probability distribution of the sum of two or more independent random variables is the convolution of their individual distributions. The term is motivated by the fact that the probability mass function or probability density function of a sum of independent random variables is the convolution of their corresponding probability mass functions or probability density ...
The triangular distribution on [a, b], a special case of which is the distribution of the sum of two independent uniformly distributed random variables (the convolution of two uniform distributions). The trapezoidal distribution; The truncated normal distribution on [a, b]. The U-quadratic distribution on [a, b].
A distinction needs to be made between a random variable whose distribution function or density is the sum of a set of components (i.e. a mixture distribution) and a random variable whose value is the sum of the values of two or more underlying random variables, in which case the distribution is given by the convolution operator.
Two probability densities f and g represent the same probability distribution precisely if they differ only on a set of Lebesgue measure zero. In the field of statistical physics , a non-formal reformulation of the relation above between the derivative of the cumulative distribution function and the probability density function is generally ...
This follows from the fact that the convolution of two log-concave functions is log-concave. The product of two log-concave functions is log-concave. This means that joint densities formed by multiplying two probability densities (e.g. the normal-gamma distribution , which always has a shape parameter ≥ 1) will be log-concave.
This result is known as Cramér's decomposition theorem, and is equivalent to saying that the convolution of two distributions is normal if and only if both are normal. Cramér's theorem implies that a linear combination of independent non-Gaussian variables will never have an exactly normal distribution, although it may approach it arbitrarily ...