Topher Cooper wrote:
My personal preference would be to use what is probably the most common abbreviations for the basic functions. They are simple, compact and standard. Maybe a little obscure for those who only took statistics in high school or some who only know cookbook statistics -- but that is what documentation is for. The ignorant are after all ignorant whatever choice is made, but you can do something about it by using the standard terms:
dist.pdf(x) -- Probability Density Function, this is what looks like a "bell shaped curve" for a normal distribution, for example. A.k.a. "p" dist.cdf(x) -- Cumulative Distribution Function. P dist.ccdf(x) -- Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function; ccdf(x) = 1 - cdf(x) dist.icdf(p) -- Inverse Cumulative Distribution Function: P'; icdf(cdf(x)) = x and vice versa dist.iccdf(p) -- Inverse Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function; iccdf(p) = icdf(1-p); iccdf(ccdf(x)) = x
These would not be my first choice, but since they are relatively standard abbreviations and much shorter to type, I think they are reasonable suggestions.