Wikipedia:WikiProject Probability

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The goal of WikiProject Probability is to help in the uniform development and improvement of articles related to probability theory and statistics.

The following are some suggestions about how we might organize and develop articles about probability theory. These are only suggestions, things to give you focus and to get you going, and you shouldn't feel obligated in the least to follow them. A particularly useful collection can be found in the Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics), which contains a detailed discussion of issues related to writing mathematics articles on Wikipedia. But if you don't know what to write or where to begin, following the below guidelines may be helpful. Mainly, we just want you to write articles and develop Wikipedia's coverage of the subject!

Contents

[edit] Scope

This WikiProject aims primarily to organize articles in probability theory, applications and related fields. It has begun as an effort to catalogue probability articles in such a way as might facilitate learning probability from the Wikipedia, by developing an annotated 'table of contents' (see /Learn) with this end in mind. Hopefully, this WikiProject will also expose the gaps in Wikipedia's coverage of the topic, and can devote some attention to filling in those gaps.

This primary goal is distinct from that of a list of probability topics, since items on such lists are typically ordered alphabetically, and provide only the barest of guides. However, it may be useful to develop such a list in parallel with the /Learn guide.

[Since the previous paragraph was written, a comprehensive list of probability topics page has been developed by Wikipedians. It is organised by category, rather than alphabetised, but is not a guide to learning. It also includes many links to articles that are peripheral to the core of probability theory, such as articles on statistics. An effort will be made to keep the list and the guide complementary.]

An important note is that WikiProject Probability is not concerned with writing articles for an audience who is trying to learn probability theory, except as is appropriate for encyclopedic articles. Writing content with a primarily pedagogical intent is the province of Wikibooks. However, in time WikiProject Probability may develop into a project to write a Wikibook on the subject.

When contributing new articles which are (even only remotely) related to to probability (including biographies of mathematicians involved with probability, and so on), please add a probability category. This enables us to identify, and hence review and add to each other's contributions.

The main issues for the project are some among the following ones.

  • Bringing stubs up to a reasonable standard. There are always plenty of pages that are definition-only. We need to add motivation and examples.
  • Developing important articles into good expositions. As anyone who teaches the subject knows, the gap between stating some true facts, and really putting over a topic, is quite large. Here we can consider also the need to add history and proper attributions.
  • Expanding coverage to bring the subject up-to-date. This is a huge task, so the main requirements are patience and determination. In particular a lot of work is still needed to bring the more advanced material up-to-date, so expert contributions are to be encouraged.
  • Keeping track of all relevant articles, by listing, categorising and assessing them. As mentioned above, it is important to add even an approximate category to each article.
  • Identifying hoaxing and other unattributable material. Most Wikipedians, naturally, enough, don't feel qualified to pronounce on articles purporting to be mathematical, so it is up to us to identify crankery, hoaxes, and material with dubious or unverifiable sources. Anything suspect should be reported on the talk page of this page.

[edit] Standards

Probability distribution articles are generally divided into two subcategories: Category:Discrete distributions and Category:Continuous distributions. There are, however, a few which fit into neither. (See Category:Probability distributions.) The standards for an article will differ somewhat depending on the category of the distribution. The prototypical continuous distribution is the Exponential distribution and the prototypical discrete distribution is the Poisson distribution.

The following is a (hopefully developing) list of suggested standards for a probability distribution article. (See also WikiProject Mathematics.)

[edit] Standard Usage

  • In-line math - should be done with <math> tags. It should be done in such a way that PNG rendering is NOT forced. Non-inline math should be also done with <math> tags and should be done in such a way that PNG rendering IS forced. In some cases (e.g. fractions) it is naturally forced, but if it is not naturally forced it can be made so by appending a "\," (space) at the end of the equation. This is so that those who set their math preferences to "Always render PNG" will get as much PNG as possible, while those who prefer "HTML when possible or else PNG" will get as much HTML as possible. Those who prefer "HTML if very simple, else PNG" will get HTML inline, PNG for non-inline.

[edit] Standard Layout

  • Title - The title of each article will be: "XXX distribution" where "XXX" is the name of the distribution.
  • Specification of the distribution - A continuous distribution is described by a CDF (cumulative distribution function) and, when possible, a PDF (probability density function) which is the derivative of the CDF. A discrete distribution is described by a CDF (cumulative distribution function) and the associated PMF (probability mass function). Each function may also be a function of any number of parameters.
    • For the continuous distribution, the PDF will be written as f(x;a,b,c,...) where x is the value of the random variate (a real number), and a,b,c... are the parameter values, when they exist. The CDF is written F(x;a,b,c,...).
    • For the discrete distribution, the PMF will be written as f(k;a,b,c,...) where k is the value of the random variate (an integer or perhaps a rational number), and a,b,c... are the parameter values, when they exist. The CDF is written F(k;a,b,c,...).

[edit] Parentage

No parent of this WikiProject has yet been 'officially' defined, but see WikiProject Mathematics.

[edit] Participants

The following is the list of Wikipedia:Wikipedians who are committed to this WikiProject. If you're interested in helping with this project, please, feel free to add your name to the following list with an optional short introduction about yourself. Please add the following userbox to your user page by typing {{User_WP_Probab}} on your user page. The addition of the userbox automatically adds you to the WikiProject Probability Users Category category.


This user is a member of WikiProject Probability.




[edit] Structure

Currently, the focus of this WikiProject is the annotated table of contents at /Learn. Comments and discussion directly related to should be directed to the appropriate talk page.

Please direct comments and discussion on the project itself to the talk page for the current document.

[edit] Topics

[edit] Articles

[edit] Images

All current image were made by Wikipedians. Please continue this tradition, and please upload images to the Wikimedia Commons.

[edit] Lists and categories

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