In statistics, a univariate distribution is a

probability distribution In probability theory and statistics, a probability distribution is the mathematical function that gives the probabilities of occurrence of different possible outcomes for an experiment. It is a mathematical description of a random phenomeno ...

of only one

random variable A random variable (also called random quantity, aleatory variable, or stochastic variable) is a mathematical formalization of a quantity or object which depends on random events. It is a mapping or a function from possible outcomes (e.g., the p ...

. This is in contrast to a multivariate distribution, the

of a

random vector In probability, and statistics, a multivariate random variable or random vector is a list of mathematical variables each of whose value is unknown, either because the value has not yet occurred or because there is imperfect knowledge of its valu ...

(consisting of multiple random variables).

Examples

One of the simplest examples of a discrete univariate distribution is the

discrete uniform distribution In probability theory and statistics, the discrete uniform distribution is a symmetric probability distribution wherein a finite number of values are equally likely to be observed; every one of ''n'' values has equal probability 1/''n''. Ano ...

, where all elements of a finite set are equally likely. It is the probability model for the outcomes of tossing a fair coin, rolling a fair die, etc. The univariate continuous uniform distribution on an interval 'a'', ''b''has the property that all sub-intervals of the same length are equally likely.