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A measure of asymmetry

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  • P. Patil
  • P. Patil
  • D. Bagkavos

Abstract

It is a general practice to make assertions about the symmetry or asymmetry of a probability density function based on the coefficients of skewness. Since most of the coefficients of skewness are designed to be zero for a symmetric density, they overall do provide an indication of symmetry. However, skewness is primarily influenced by the tail behavior of a density function, and the skewness coefficients are designed to capture this behavior. Thus they do not calibrate asymmetry in the density curves. We provide a necessary condition for a probability density function to be symmetric and use that to measure asymmetry in a continuous density curve on the scale of −1 to 1. We show through examples that the proposed measure does an admirable job of capturing the visual impression of asymmetry of a continuous density function. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2012

Suggested Citation

  • P. Patil & P. Patil & D. Bagkavos, 2012. "A measure of asymmetry," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 971-985, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:stpapr:v:53:y:2012:i:4:p:971-985
    DOI: 10.1007/s00362-011-0401-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Boshnakov, Georgi N., 2007. "Some measures for asymmetry of distributions," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(11), pages 1111-1116, June.
    2. Frank Critchley & M. C. Jones, 2008. "Asymmetry and Gradient Asymmetry Functions: Density‐Based Skewness and Kurtosis," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 35(3), pages 415-437, September.
    3. Xiaojun, Li & Morris, Joel M., 1991. "On measuring asymmetry and the reliability of the skewness measure," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 267-271, September.
    4. Evarist Giné & David M. Mason, 2008. "Uniform in Bandwidth Estimation of Integral Functionals of the Density Function," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 35(4), pages 739-761, December.
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    Cited by:

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    4. Andreas Eberl & Bernhard Klar, 2021. "A note on a measure of asymmetry," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1483-1497, June.

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