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Characterization of a general class of life-testing models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

M. E. Ghitany*
Affiliation:
Kuwait University
M. A. El-saidi*
Affiliation:
Ferris State University
Z. Khalil*
Affiliation:
Concordia University
*
Postal address: Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Faculty of Science, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait.
∗∗Postal address: Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan 49307, U.S.A.
∗∗∗Postal address: Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H4B 1R6.

Abstract

In this paper we establish a characterization theorem for a general class of life-testing models based on a relationship between conditional expectation and the failure rate function. As a simple application of the theorem, we characterize the gamma, Weibull, and Gompertz distributions, since they have many probabilistic and statistical properties useful in both biometry and engineering reliability.

Type
Short Communications
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1995 

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Footnotes

On sabbatical leave at Kuwait University.

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