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The work of Fernando de Helguero on non-normality arising from selection. (English) Zbl 1449.62001

Summary: The current literature on so-called ‘skew-symmetric distributions’ is closely linked to the idea of a selection mechanism operated by some latent variable. We illustrate the pioneering work of Fernando de Helguero who in 1908 [Rom. 4. Math. Kongr. 8. 288–299 (1909; JFM 40.0294.03)] put forward a formulation for the genesis of non-normal distributions via a selection mechanism, which perturbs a normal distribution, hence employing a closely connected argument with the one now widely used in this context. Arguably, de Helguero can then be considered the precursor of the current idea of skew-symmetric distributions. Unfortunately, a tragic quirk of fate did not allow him to pursue his project beyond the initial formulation and his work went unnoticed for the rest of the 20th century.

MSC:

62-03 History of statistics
62E10 Characterization and structure theory of statistical distributions
01A60 History of mathematics in the 20th century
01A70 Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies
60E05 Probability distributions: general theory

Biographic References:

de Helguero, Fernando

Citations:

JFM 40.0294.03

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References:

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