Manipulating Distributions

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Introduction

distplyr provides a grammar of verbs for manipulating probability distributions. Operations take distribution(s) as input, return a distribution as output, maintain mathematical correctness, and can be chained together.

Development Status

Note: distplyr is under active development and, while functional, is still young and will experience growing pains. For example, it currently struggles with manipulating some distributions that aren’t continuous. These limitations will be addressed as development continues. We appreciate your patience and welcome contributions! Please see the contributing guide to get started.

Available Verbs

Linear Transformations

Verb	What it does	Operator
`shift(d, a)`	Add constant `a`	`d + a`
`multiply(d, a)`	Multiply by constant `a`	`d * a`
`flip(d)`	Negate the random variable	`-d`
`invert(d)`	Take reciprocal	`1 / d`

Combinations

Verb	What it does
`mix(...)`	Create mixture distribution
`maximize(...)`	Distribution of maximum
`minimize(...)`	Distribution of minimum

Mathematical Transformations

Function	What it does
`exp(d)`	Exponentiate
`log(d)`	Natural logarithm
`log10(d)`	Base-10 logarithm
`sqrt(d)`	Square root

Using Operators

Some transformations can be achieved using operations like +, -, *, /, and ^.

Here’s the function form:

d <- dst_exp(1)
shift(d, 5)
#> Shifted distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> $distribution
#> Exponential distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> rate 
#>    1 
#> 
#> $shift
#> [1] 5

And the equivalent operator form:

d + 5
#> Shifted distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> $distribution
#> Exponential distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> rate 
#>    1 
#> 
#> $shift
#> [1] 5

The verb form is most useful for chaining operations (try multiply() and shift() together with a pipe operator like |> or %>%). Or more concisely with operators:

10 - 2 * dst_norm(0, 1)
#> Normal distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> mean   sd 
#>   10    2

Examples

Some examples of transformations. Start by shifting and scaling:

d <- dst_exp(1)
shifted <- shift(d, 10)
scaled <- multiply(d, 5)

Properties update correctly:

range(d)
#> [1]   0 Inf
range(shifted)
#> [1]  10 Inf
range(scaled)
#> [1]   0 Inf

An example of using mix() to make a zero-inflated model. (NOTE: because this is not a continuous distribution, distplyr struggles with some aspects; improvements to come soon.)

Make the rainfall distribution:

dry <- dst_degenerate(0)
rain <- dst_gamma(5, 0.5)
rainfall <- mix(dry, rain, weights = c(0.7, 0.3))

View a randomly generated rainfall series:

set.seed(1)
x <- realize(rainfall, n = 30)
plot(x, ylab = "Rainfall (mm)", xlab = "Day")
lines(x)

Understanding Simplifications

When you apply distplyr operations to distributions, the package sometimes simplifies the result to a known distribution family. For example, the logarithm of a Log-Normal distribution is a Normal distribution—not a generic transformed distribution object.

What Are Simplifications?

A simplification occurs when distplyr recognizes that a transformed or combined distribution belongs to a known distribution family and returns that simpler form.

Here’s an example where simplification happens. Start with a Log-Normal distribution:

lognormal <- dst_lnorm(meanlog = 2, sdlog = 0.5)
lognormal
#> Log Normal distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> meanlog   sdlog 
#>     2.0     0.5

Take the logarithm, which simplifies to Normal:

result <- log(lognormal)
result
#> Normal distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> mean   sd 
#>  2.0  0.5

Or, taking the maximum of two distributions where one is strictly greater than the other always takes the bigger one.

maximize(dst_unif(0, 1), dst_unif(4, 10))
#> Uniform distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> min max 
#>   4  10

Without simplification, the results would be a generic transformed distribution object, like this output from maximize():

maximize(dst_unif(0, 7), dst_unif(4, 10))
#> Maximum distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> $distributions
#> $distributions[[1]]
#> Uniform distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> min max 
#>   0   7 
#> 
#> $distributions[[2]]
#> Uniform distribution (continuous) 
#> --Parameters--
#> min max 
#>   4  10 
#> 
#> 
#> $draws
#> [1] 1 1

Why Simplifications Matter

Simplifications are useful for three main reasons:

They align with our conceptual model of how some distribution families work.
They (should) improve computational efficiency and reduce the potential for rounding error propagation.
They keep the distribution objects simpler.

The package does not include a comprehensive list of all possible simplifications, but sticks to some key cases that are thought to be important. To see what simplifications are implemented, check the documentation of each verb.

The accuracy of simplifications is ensured by (1) testing each simplification case to the expected distribution parameters, and (2) verifying that the CDF of the generic (unsimplified) distribution matches the CDF of the simplified distribution at a grid of points.

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.