Cumulant

Cumulant

In probability theory and statistics, the cumulants κn of a probability distribution are a set of quantities that provide an alternative to the moments of the distribution. The moments determine the cumulants in the sense that any two probability distributions whose moments are identical will have identical cumulants as well, and similarly the cumulants determine the moments. In some cases theoretical treatments of problems in terms of cumulants are simpler than those using moments.

Just as for moments, where joint moments are used for collections of random variables, it is possible to define joint cumulants.

Read more about Cumulant:  Introduction, Uses in Mathematical Statistics, Cumulants of Some Discrete Probability Distributions, Cumulants of Some Continuous Probability Distributions, Some Properties of The Cumulant Generating Function, Joint Cumulants, Relation To Statistical Physics, History