distspec represents probability distributions (typically epidemiological
delays, such as generation times or reporting delays) as <dist_spec>
objects. Each supported distribution has its own constructor: LogNormal(),
Gamma(), Normal(), Exponential(), Weibull(), Beta(), Fixed(),
NonParametric() and Dirichlet().
Details
A parameter can be given either as a fixed numeric value or as an uncertain
value (another <dist_spec>); currently only normally distributed uncertain
parameters (from Normal()) are supported.
Each distribution has a "natural" (canonical) parameterisation, such as
shape and rate for Gamma() or meanlog and sdlog for LogNormal().
It can sometimes also be specified using other parameters, such as its mean
and standard deviation, which are then converted to the natural parameters
(propagating any uncertainty with a first-order delta-method approximation).
See also
discretise() and collapse() to discretise and convolve
distributions, sample_dist() to draw samples, and get_parameters() /
get_pmf() to inspect them.