Slash distribution

Slash
Probability density function
Cumulative distribution function
Parameters	none
Support	$x\in (-\infty ,\infty )$
PDF	${\begin{cases}{\frac {\varphi (0)-\varphi (x)}{x^{2}}}&x\neq 0\\{\frac {1}{2{\sqrt {2\pi }}}}&x=0\\\end{cases}}$
CDF	${\begin{cases}\Phi (x)-\left[\varphi (0)-\varphi (x)\right]/x&x\neq 0\\1/2&x=0\\\end{cases}}$
Mean	Does not exist
Median	0
Mode	0
Variance	Does not exist
Skewness	Does not exist
Excess kurtosis	Does not exist
MGF	Does not exist
CF	${\sqrt {2\pi }}{\Big (}\varphi (t)+t\Phi (t)-\max\{t,0\}{\Big )}$

In probability theory, the slash distribution is the probability distribution of a standard normal variate divided by an independent standard uniform variate.^[1] In other words, if the random variable Z has a normal distribution with zero mean and unit variance, the random variable U has a uniform distribution on [0,1] and Z and U are statistically independent, then the random variable X = Z / U has a slash distribution. The slash distribution is an example of a ratio distribution. The distribution was named by William H. Rogers and John Tukey in a paper published in 1972.^[2]

The probability density function (pdf) is

f(x)={\frac {\varphi (0)-\varphi (x)}{x^{2}}}.

where $\varphi (x)$ is the probability density function of the standard normal distribution.^[3] The quotient is undefined at x = 0, but the discontinuity is removable:

\lim _{x\to 0}f(x)={\frac {\varphi (0)}{2}}={\frac {1}{2{\sqrt {2\pi }}}}

The most common use of the slash distribution is in simulation studies. It is a useful distribution in this context because it has heavier tails than a normal distribution, but it is not as pathological as the Cauchy distribution.^[3]

References

^ Davison, Anthony Christopher; Hinkley, D. V. (1997). Bootstrap methods and their application. Cambridge University Press. p. 484. ISBN 978-0-521-57471-6. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
^ Rogers, W. H.; Tukey, J. W. (1972). "Understanding some long-tailed symmetrical distributions". Statistica Neerlandica. 26 (3): 211–226. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9574.1972.tb00191.x.
^ ^a ^b "SLAPDF". Statistical Engineering Division, National Institute of Science and Technology. Retrieved 2009-07-02.

This article incorporates public domain material from the National Institute of Standards and Technology

Probability distributions (list)

Discrete
univariate

with finite support	Benford Bernoulli beta-binomial binomial categorical hypergeometric negative Poisson binomial Rademacher soliton discrete uniform Zipf Zipf–Mandelbrot
with infinite support	beta negative binomial Borel Conway–Maxwell–Poisson discrete phase-type Delaporte extended negative binomial Flory–Schulz Gauss–Kuzmin geometric logarithmic mixed Poisson negative binomial Panjer parabolic fractal Poisson Skellam Yule–Simon zeta

Continuous
univariate

supported on a bounded interval	arcsine ARGUS Balding–Nichols Bates beta beta rectangular continuous Bernoulli Irwin–Hall Kumaraswamy logit-normal noncentral beta PERT raised cosine reciprocal triangular U-quadratic uniform Wigner semicircle
supported on a semi-infinite interval	Benini Benktander 1st kind Benktander 2nd kind beta prime Burr chi chi-squared noncentral inverse scaled Dagum Davis Erlang hyper exponential hyperexponential hypoexponential logarithmic F noncentral folded normal Fréchet gamma generalized inverse gamma/Gompertz Gompertz shifted half-logistic half-normal Hotelling's T-squared inverse Gaussian generalized Kolmogorov Lévy log-Cauchy log-Laplace log-logistic log-normal log-t Lomax matrix-exponential Maxwell–Boltzmann Maxwell–Jüttner Mittag-Leffler Nakagami Pareto phase-type Poly-Weibull Rayleigh relativistic Breit–Wigner Rice truncated normal type-2 Gumbel Weibull discrete Wilks's lambda
supported on the whole real line	Cauchy exponential power Fisher's z Kaniadakis κ-Gaussian Gaussian q generalized normal generalized hyperbolic geometric stable Gumbel Holtsmark hyperbolic secant Johnson's S_U Landau Laplace asymmetric logistic noncentral t normal (Gaussian) normal-inverse Gaussian skew normal slash stable Student's t Tracy–Widom variance-gamma Voigt
with support whose type varies	generalized chi-squared generalized extreme value generalized Pareto Marchenko–Pastur Kaniadakis κ-exponential Kaniadakis κ-Gamma Kaniadakis κ-Weibull Kaniadakis κ-Logistic Kaniadakis κ-Erlang q-exponential q-Gaussian q-Weibull shifted log-logistic Tukey lambda