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On a method of estimating frequencies using the negative binomial distribution
Author(s) -
EDWARDS A. W. F.
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
annals of human genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.537
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1469-1809
pISSN - 0003-4800
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-1809.1960.tb01743.x
Subject(s) - statistics , mathematics , negative binomial distribution , reciprocal , binomial (polynomial) , distribution (mathematics) , binomial distribution , maximum likelihood , poisson distribution , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics
Summary In the estimation of small frequencies by counting until a certain number of affected individuals has been counted, it is shown that the most satisfactory method is to estimate the reciprocal of the frequency. In all circumstances the total number of individuals counted divided by the total number of affected individuals counted is a sufficient estimate which is approximately normally distributed when the total number of affected individuals counted exceeds one hundred.