Polar distribution

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In probability theory, the polar distribution is the probability distribution of angles occurring in a set of two-dimensional vectors, denoted by

It is usually graphically represented as a closed curve

,

where the radius r equals the probability p.

[edit] Example

By computing the probability distribution of angles along a handwritten ink trace, a lobe-shaped polar distribution emerges. The main direction of the lobe in the first quadrant corresponds to the slant of handwriting (see: graphonomics).

	Probability distributions [ view • talk • edit ]
	Univariate	Multivariate
Discrete:	Bernoulli • binomial • Boltzmann • compound Poisson • degenerate • Gauss-Kuzmin • geometric • hypergeometric • logarithmic • negative binomial • parabolic fractal • Poisson • Rademacher • Skellam • uniform • Yule-Simon • zeta • Zipf • Zipf-Mandelbrot	Ewens • multinomial
Continuous:	Beta • Beta prime • Cauchy • chi-square • Dirac delta function • Erlang • exponential • exponential power • F • fading • Fisher's z • Fisher-Tippett • Gamma • generalized extreme value • generalized hyperbolic • generalized inverse Gaussian • Half-Logistic • Hotelling's T-square • hyperbolic secant • hyper-exponential • hypoexponential • inverse chi-square • inverse gaussian • inverse gamma • Kumaraswamy • Landau • Laplace • Lévy • Lévy skew alpha-stable • logistic • log-normal • Maxwell-Boltzmann • Maxwell speed • normal (Gaussian) • Pareto • Pearson • polar • raised cosine • Rayleigh • relativistic Breit-Wigner • Rice • Student's t • triangular • type-1 Gumbel • type-2 Gumbel • uniform • Voigt • von Mises • Weibull • Wigner semicircle • Wilks' lambda	Dirichlet • Kent • matrix normal • multivariate normal • von Mises-Fisher • Wigner quasi • Wishart
Miscellaneous:	Cantor • conditional • exponential family • infinitely divisible • location-scale family • marginal • maximum entropy • phase-type • posterior • prior • quasi • sampling • singular