Hazard rate

Hazard function and cumulative hazard function

Synonyms for hazard function in different fields include hazard rate, intensity function, force of mortality (demography and actuarial science, denoted by ${\displaystyle \mu }$), force of failure, or failure rate (engineering, denoted ${\displaystyle \lambda }$). For example, in actuarial science, ${\displaystyle \mu (x)}$ denotes rate of death for people aged ${\displaystyle x}$, whereas in reliability engineering${\displaystyle \lambda (t)}$ denotes rate of failure of components after operation for time ${\displaystyle t}$.