In probability theory, the Modified Kumaraswamy (MK) distribution is a two-parameter continuous probability distribution defined on the interval (0,1). It serves as an alternative to the beta and Kumaraswamy distributions for modeling double-bounded random variables. The MK distribution was originally proposed by Sagrillo, Guerra, and Bayer [1] through a transformation of the Kumaraswamy distribution.
Its density exhibits an increasing-decreasing-increasing shape, which is not characteristic of the beta or Kumaraswamy distributions. The motivation for this proposal stemmed from applications in hydro-environmental problems.
Sagrillo, Guerra, and Bayer[1] suggested using the maximum likelihood method for parameter estimation of the MK distribution. The log-likelihood function for the MK distribution, given a sample , is:
The components of the score vector are
and
The MLEs of , denoted by , are obtained as the simultaneous solution of , where is a two-dimensional null vector.
The Modified Kumaraswamy distribution was introduced for modeling hydro-environmental data. It has been shown to outperform the Beta and Kumaraswamy distributions for the useful volume of water reservoirs in Brazil.[1] It was also used in the statistical estimation of the stress-strength reliability of systems.[3]
^Gupta, R.D.; Kundu, D (1999). "Theory & Methods: Generalized exponential distributions". Australian & New Zealand Journal of Statistics. 41 (2): 173–188. doi:10.1111/1467-842X.00072.
^Kohansal, Akram; Pérez-González, Carlos J; Fernández, Arturo J (2023). "Inference on the stress-strength reliability of multi-component systems based on progressive first failure censored samples". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part O: Journal of Risk and Reliability. 238 (5): 1053–1073. doi:10.1177/1748006X231188075.