This is an implementation of the probability density function and a random number generator for Student's t-distribution. (See the Wikipedia article [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student%27s_t-distribution].) The function cdf-students-t is already implemented in [tcllib], as is a procedure for calculating the t-statistic by calculating the inverse CDF. This code implements pdf-students-t and random-students-t. Included is the code for the functions as well as some test code. The test code uses [Simple Test]. **The Library (tdist.tcl)** ====== package require math namespace import math::ln_Gamma source simpletest.tcl namespace eval tdist { variable pi [expr {atan2(0, -1)}] st::addproc pdf-students-t { degrees ;# Degrees of freedom (allow non-integer) value ;# svalue where dist is to be evaluated } where { {{1 0.1} ~ 0.315158303152268} {{0.5 0.1} ~ 0.265700672177405} {{4 3.2} ~ 0.0156821741652879} {{3 2.0} ~ 0.0675096606638929} {{3 7.5} ~ 0.000942291548015668} } st::addproc random-students-t { degrees ;# Degrees of freedom: may be non-integer, but >= 1 number ;# Number of random deviates to produce } where {} ;# No tests: compare visually as histogram } proc tdist::pdf-students-t {degrees value} { variable pi set nplus1over2 [expr {0.5 * ($degrees + 1)}] set f1 [expr {exp([ln_Gamma $nplus1over2] - \ [ln_Gamma [expr {$nplus1over2 - 0.5}]])}] set f2 [expr {1.0/sqrt($degrees * $pi)}] expr {$f1 * $f2 * pow(1.0 + $value * $value/double($degrees), -$nplus1over2)} } # Use method from Appendix 4.3 in Dagpunar, J.S., # "Simulation and Monte Carlo: With Applications in # Finance and MCMC" proc tdist::random-students-t {degrees number} { variable pi if {$degrees < 1} { error "random-students-t: Degrees of freedom must be >= 1" } set dd [expr {double($degrees)}] set k [expr {2.0/($dd - 1.0)}] for {set i 0} {$i < $number} {incr i} { set r1 [expr {rand()}] if {$degrees > 1} { set r2 [expr {rand()}] set c [expr {cos(2.0 * $pi * $r2)}] lappend retval [expr {sqrt($dd/ \ (1.0/(1.0 - pow($r1, $k)) \ - $c * $c)) * $c}] } else { lappend retval [expr {tan(0.5 * $pi * ($r1 + $r1 - 1))}] } } set retval } ====== **Test Suite (tdist_test.tcl)** ====== package require math::statistics source tdist.tcl st::tolerance 1.0e-9 console show namespace eval tdist { st::print } ########################################################################################## ## ## TESTING ## ## For random numbers, generate histograms: ## ########################################################################################## canvas .c pack .c -side top frame .f pack .f -side bottom label .f.dofl -text "dof" entry .f.dofe -textvariable dof pack .f.dofl -side left pack .f.dofe -side left button .f.run -text "Run" -command runtest pack .f.run -side left proc runtest {} { set step 0.5 set vals [tdist::random-students-t $::dof 5000] set remainder 5000 for {set x -10.0} {$x < 10.0} {set x [expr {$x + $step}]} { lappend bins $x set distval [tdist::pdf-students-t $::dof [expr {$x - 0.5 * $step}]] # Total trials (5000) * step * value set distval [expr {int(5000 * $step * $distval)}] lappend distcounts $distval } # Assume none are left lappend distcounts 0.0 set bincounts [::math::statistics::histogram $bins $vals] .c delete hist .c delete dist math::statistics::plot-scale .c -7 7 0 [math::statistics::max $bincounts] math::statistics::plot-histogram .c $bincounts $bins hist math::statistics::plot-histogram .c $distcounts $bins dist .c itemconfigure dist -fill {} -outline green } set dof 3 runtest ====== <> Mathematics | Statistics