For statistical math expert

Would someone explain what a cummulant is? I can't even find a wiki page on it.

For extra credit, explain the idea behind them, and why they are used as opposed to the standard moments.

nitro

 

Drop the extra M. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulant

Kendall and Stuart's, "The Advanced Theory Of Statistics" ... Chapter on "Moments and Cumulants".

 

Oy, I gotta learn to spell.

Thanks.

nitro

 

Aren't cumulants just moments or different forms of moments, (ie. adding, subtracting or squaring lower moments) that could still give you the mean, variance, skewness, etc? If I remember correctly, it’s just a different way of parameterizing.