---
title: Distribution
description: "| The frequencies of values for a variable. The term is more often applied to continuous variables than discrete variables but applies to both. For example the distribution of (binary) gender for referrals might be 70:30::F:M. For continuous variables the…"
url: "https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/distribution/"
updated: "2024-04-07"
category: All OM book glossary entries
---

# Distribution

| The frequencies of values for a variable. The term is more often applied to continuous variables than discrete variables but applies to both. For example the distribution of (binary) gender for referrals might be 70:30::F:M. For continuous variables the distribution can be shown by histograms or, with much less detail, box plots. |
| --- |

#### Try also

[Distribution shape](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/distribution-shape/)
[Gaussian (“Normal”) Distribution](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/gaussian-normal-distribution/)
[Skew](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/skew-skew-distribution/)
[Box plot (and boxplot!)](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/boxplot-or-box-plot/)
[Violin plot (and violinplot!)](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/violin-plot-or-violinplot/)
[Histogram](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/histograms-and-barplots/)
[Uniform distribution](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/uniform-distribution/)

#### Chapters

Chapters 5, 7 and 8.

#### Online resources

* You can generate samples from distributions using my shiny app: [https://shiny.psyctc.org/apps/Create_univariate_data/](https://shiny.psyctc.org/apps/Create_univariate_data/). At the moment it only creates Gaussian and uniform distributions but more distributions may follow. You can download the data or copy and paste it to other apps.
* You could then paste the data into another app: [https://shiny.psyctc.org/apps/ECDFplot/](https://shiny.psyctc.org/apps/ECDFplot/) to get a sense of how your samples change was you change the size or the population parameters (mean and SD for the Gaussian; minimum and maximum for the uniform distribution).

#### Dates

Created 2.xi.21, updated links 7.iv.24.