Abstract
Quantile functions have been used extensively in statistics for more than a century to study distributions and provide measures of location and dispersion. For an early example of their use, see Galton (1889). Kendall and Stuart (1977, Ch. 2) is a helpful modern reference. In Section 7.1, quantile functions are defined, some methods are provided for their computation, and their role in characterizing distributions is described. In Section 7.2, quantile functions are used to generate measures of location. In Section 7.3, quantile functions are employed to generate measures of dispersion. In Section 7.4, medians are applied to prediction by least absolute error.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Haberman, S.J. (1996). Quantiles. In: Advanced Statistics. Springer Series in Statistics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4417-0_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4417-0_7
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-2850-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4417-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive