Is "Gaussian" the term preferred over "normal" when speaking of the distribution to which these names have been attached? Are they both referring to the same thing?
Is the term Gaussian distribution the preferred term?
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terminology
probability-distributions
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2These are equivalent. Both are correct. – 2011-09-21
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2My impression is that probabilists and statisticians say "normal" and the word "Guassian" is used only by other people. – 2011-09-21
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2My probability theory prof in grad school only used "Gaussian." He always said, "There's nothing 'normal' about the Gaussian distribution." Physicists tend to use "Gaussian," too. – 2011-09-21
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0Edwin Jaynes proposed calling it the central distribution. – 2011-09-21
1 Answers
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The terms 'Gaussian distribution' and 'normal distribution' are equally correct and refer to the same distribution - neither is particularly preferred over the other.