Generalized gamma parameter estimation and moment evaluation

Abstract

The generalized gamma distribution includes the exponential distribution, the gamma distribution, and the Weibull distribution as special cases. It also includes the log-normal distribution in the limit as one of its parameters goes to infinity. Prentice (1974) developed an estimation method that is effective even when the underlying distribution is nearly log-normal. He reparameterized the density function so that it achieved the limiting case in a smooth fashion relative to the new parameters. He also gave formulas for the second partial derivatives of the log-density function to be used in the nearly log-normal case. His formulas included infinite summations, and he did not estimate the error in approximating these summations.

We derive approximations for the log-density function and moments of the generalized gamma distribution that are smooth in the nearly log-normal case and involve only finite summations. Absolute error bounds for these approximations are included. The approximation for the first moment is applied to the problem of estimating the parameters of a generalized gamma distribution under the constraint that the distribution have mean one. This enables the development of a correspondence between the parameters in a mean one generalized gamma distribution and certain parameters in acoustic scattering theory.

Keywords:

• generalized gamma distribution
• log-normal distribution
• maximum-likelihood estimation
• moment evaluation