Gaussian Distribution

Probability density function

  • \(X \sim \mathcal{N}(\mu, \sigma^2)\) \[\begin{aligned} p(x) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}\sigma} \exp\left[-\frac{(x-\mu)^2}{2\sigma^2}\right] \end{aligned}\]

Distribution function

  • Q-function

    • Definition \[\begin{aligned} Q(x) \triangleq \int_x^{\infty} \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}\exp\left(-\frac{x^2}{2}\right)dx \end{aligned}\]
    • Properties \[\begin{aligned} Q(-x) + Q(x) &= 1 \\ Q(0) &= \frac{1}{2} \end{aligned}\]
  • Error function and complementary error function

    • Definitions \[\begin{aligned} \text{erf}(x) &\triangleq \frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi}} \int_0^x \exp\left(-x^2\right)dx \\ \text{erfc}(x) &\triangleq \frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi}} \int_x^{\infty} \exp\left(-x^2\right)dx \end{aligned}\]
    • Properties \[\begin{aligned} \text{erf}(x) + \text{erfc}(x) &= 1 \\ \text{erf}(x) &= 1 - 2Q(\sqrt{2}x) \\ \text{erfc}(x) &= 2Q(\sqrt{2}x) \end{aligned}\]
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