.BG
.VE $Header: /usr3/s/current/s/.help/RCS/stab,v 1.2 83/12/30 19:34:49 rab Exp $
.FN stab
.FN rstab
.TL
rstab: Stable Family of Distributions
.CS
rstab(n, par1, par2)
.PP
.AG n
number of random values desired.
.AG par1
parameter for the member of the stable family desired.
These are specified in the form given 
in the reference.
The parameter `par1' is usually
called the index of the family:  2 corresponds to the
normal, 1 to the Cauchy.  Generally, smaller values mean
longer tails.  Only values between 0 and 2 are legal.
.AG par2
modified skewness parameter (see the reference).  Negative
and positive values correspond to skewness left and right.
.RT
vector of `n' values from the chosen family.
.PP
Stable distributions are of considerable mathematical interest.
Statistically, they are used mostly when an example of a very long-tailed
distribution is required.  For small values of `par1', the
distribution degenerates.  See the reference and other works cited
there.
.PP
Note that there are no probability or quantile functions for
this distribution. The efficient computation of such values is
an open problem.
.SH REFERENCE
J. M. Chambers, C. L. Mallows, and B. W. Stuck,
"A Method for Simulating Stable Random Variables",
.ul
JASA,
Vol 71, pp 340-344, 1976.
.EX
hist(rstab(200,1.5,1.5)) #fairly long tails, skewed right
.KW random
.KW distribution
.KW basic*
.WR
