Prescribing the Moments of a
Probability Distribution Applet

Instructions:

1. Click "Reset Pop" first, to initialize distribution, before generating data!
2. Click the "Properties" button to bring up a dialog box where you can
   1. Set the minimum and maximum ranges
   2. Set the number of points, precision and number of classes.
   3. The mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis of the population distribution are shown in the upper right text area.
   4. The mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis of the sample distribution are shown to the left of the population statistics.
3. Click the "Options" button to bring up a dialog box where you can
   1. Show the first, second and third quartiles of the sample (shown in green)
   2. Show the mean (vertical black line) and blue lines one or two standard deviations away from the mean (for the sample).
4. The default population distribution is uniform (constant).
5. Select the desired distribution heights (click or drag the mouse above the category to set height)
6. Click "Write Data" to write data into textarea in right.
7. Click "Read Data" to read data from textarea in right.
8. Click "Reset Sample" to generate new data, without changing the distribution.
9. Click "Sort" to sort sample. (Clicking it again reverses order.)

Note: The statistics of the input histogram are inherited by the output histogram, but the actual statistics of the generated data will differ slightly from the input distribution.

This applet can be used to generate data on [0,1] with presecribed mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis. You can cut and past the data in the scrolling window to another application such as Excel or SPSS. [In unix click 3 or 4 times in a row in the scrolling data window, in Windows highlight the data and use ctrl-c to copy]