Nonparametric Models

Last modified: 2026-09-29 00:05:17 (PDT)

1 Empirical CDF

Definition 1 (Empirical CDF) For observed values \(x_1, \ldots, x_n\), the empirical cumulative distribution function (empirical CDF) is the function

\[\hat F(t) \stackrel{\text{def}}{=}\frac{1}{n}\sum_{j=1}^n I(x_j \le t), \quad t \in \mathbb{R},\]

where \(I(A)\) is the indicator function: \(I(A) = 1\) if \(A\) holds, and \(I(A) = 0\) otherwise.

Example 1 (Numerical example: empirical CDF) Suppose the observed values are \(4, 1, 7, 3\), so \(n = 4\). Two of the four values (1 and 3) are at most 3.5, so:

\[ \begin{aligned} \hat F(3.5) &= \frac{1}{4}\mathopen{}\left(I(4 \le 3.5) + I(1 \le 3.5) + I(7 \le 3.5) + I(3 \le 3.5)\right)\mathclose{} && \text{(definition of $\hat F$)}\\ &= \frac{1}{4}(0 + 1 + 0 + 1) && \text{(evaluate each indicator)}\\ &= 0.5 && \text{(arithmetic)} \end{aligned} \]

Similarly, \(\hat F(0) = 0\), because no value is at most 0, and \(\hat F(7) = 1\), because every value is at most 7.

2 Order statistics

Definition 2 (Order statistics) For observed values \(x_1, \ldots, x_n\), the order statistics are the same values sorted in increasing order, written

\[x_{(1)} \le x_{(2)} \le \cdots \le x_{(n)}.\]

So \(x_{(1)}\) is the smallest value and \(x_{(n)}\) is the largest.

Example 2 (Numerical example: order statistics) If the observed values are \(4, 1, 7, 3\), then the order statistics are \(x_{(1)} = 1\), \(x_{(2)} = 3\), \(x_{(3)} = 4\), and \(x_{(4)} = 7\).

3 Sample quantiles

Definition 3 (Sample quantile function) Given an empirical CDF \(\hat F\), the sample quantile function (also called the empirical quantile function) is

\[\hat Q(p) \stackrel{\text{def}}{=}\inf\mathopen{}\left\{t : \hat F(t) \ge p\right\}\mathclose{}, \quad 0 < p \le 1.\]

For a given \(p\), the value \(\hat Q(p)\) is the sample \(p\) quantile, also called the sample \(100p\)th percentile.

The CDF \(F\) and the quantile function \(Q\) describe a probability distribution, while \(\hat F\) and \(\hat Q\) describe a sample, and serve as estimates of \(F\) and \(Q\).

Theorem 1 (Order-statistics form of the sample quantile) If \(x_{(1)} \le \cdots \le x_{(n)}\) are the order statistics and \(i \in \mathopen{}\left\{1, \ldots, n\right\}\mathclose{}\), then \(\hat Q(p) = x_{(i)}\) for every \(p\) with \((i-1)/n < p \le i/n\). In particular, \(\hat Q(i/n) = x_{(i)}\).

Proof. Fix \(p\) with \((i-1)/n < p \le i/n\).

For any \(t < x_{(i)}\), the \(n - i + 1\) values \(x_{(i)}, \ldots, x_{(n)}\) all exceed \(t\), so at most \(i - 1\) values are at most \(t\), and:

\[ \begin{aligned} \hat F(t) &\le \frac{i-1}{n} && \text{(at most $i - 1$ indicators equal 1)}\\ &< p && \text{(choice of $p$)} \end{aligned} \]

So no \(t < x_{(i)}\) belongs to the set \(\mathopen{}\left\{t : \hat F(t) \ge p\right\}\mathclose{}\).

At \(t = x_{(i)}\), the \(i\) values \(x_{(1)}, \ldots, x_{(i)}\) are all at most \(x_{(i)}\), so:

\[ \begin{aligned} \hat F\mathopen{}\left(x_{(i)}\right)\mathclose{} &\ge \frac{i}{n} && \text{(at least $i$ indicators equal 1)}\\ &\ge p && \text{(choice of $p$)} \end{aligned} \]

So \(x_{(i)}\) belongs to the set, and it is the smallest member of the set, because no smaller \(t\) belongs to it. Therefore \(\hat Q(p) = x_{(i)}\).

Example 3 (Numerical example: sample quantiles) Using the same data \(4, 1, 7, 3\), with order statistics \(1, 3, 4, 7\), Theorem 1 says the sample quantile function is a step function:

• \(\hat Q(p) = 1\) for \(0 < p \le 1/4\);
• \(\hat Q(p) = 3\) for \(1/4 < p \le 1/2\);
• \(\hat Q(p) = 4\) for \(1/2 < p \le 3/4\);
• \(\hat Q(p) = 7\) for \(3/4 < p \le 1\).

So \(\hat Q(0.5) = 3\) and \(\hat Q(0.9) = 7\). R’s quantile() function computes this definition when called with type = 1:

quantile(c(4, 1, 7, 3), probs = c(0.5, 0.9), type = 1)
#> 50% 90% 
#>   3   7

Other sources, and other software defaults, define sample quantiles differently, mostly by interpolating between order statistics. R’s quantile() offers nine definitions through its type argument, and its default (type = 7) interpolates, so quantile(c(4, 1, 7, 3), 0.5) returns 3.5, not 3. The usual sample median is another interpolated quantile: for an even number of observations, it averages the two middle order statistics. These notes use Definition 3, which always returns one of the observed values.

4 The empirical CDF and quantile function as generalized inverses

Figure 1: The empirical CDF and the sample quantile function for the data 4, 1, 7, 3 (order statistics 1, 3, 4, 7).

x <- c(4, 1, 7, 3)
n <- length(x)
x_ord <- sort(x)
p_ord <- seq_len(n) / n
ecdf_x_padding <- 0.8
x_min <- min(x_ord) - ecdf_x_padding
x_max <- max(x_ord) + ecdf_x_padding

x_left <- c(x_min, x_ord)
x_right <- c(x_ord, x_max)
f_levels <- c(0, p_ord)

plot(
  0,
  0,
  type = "n",
  xlim = c(x_min, x_max),
  ylim = c(0, 1.05),
  xlab = "t",
  ylab = expression(hat(plain("F"))(t))
)
segments(x_left, f_levels, x_right, f_levels, lwd = 2, col = "blue")
points(x_ord, f_levels[seq_len(n)], pch = 1, col = "blue")
points(x_ord, f_levels[seq_len(n) + 1], pch = 19, col = "blue")

(a) Empirical CDF, horizontal pieces only. Closed circles mark included endpoints; open circles mark excluded endpoints.

eqf_y_padding <- 0.5
q_left <- c(0, p_ord[-n])
q_right <- p_ord
plot(
  0,
  0,
  type = "n",
  xlim = c(0, 1),
  ylim = c(min(x_ord) - eqf_y_padding, max(x_ord) + eqf_y_padding),
  xlab = "p",
  ylab = expression(hat(Q)(p))
)
segments(q_left, x_ord, q_right, x_ord, lwd = 2, col = "blue")
points(q_left, x_ord, pch = 1, col = "blue")
points(q_right, x_ord, pch = 19, col = "blue")

(b) Sample quantile function, horizontal pieces only. Open circles mark excluded left endpoints; closed circles mark included right endpoints.

Both functions in Figure 1 are step functions, so neither is one-to-one. Each flat piece of one function corresponds to a jump of the other: for example, \(\hat F(t) = 0.5\) for every \(t \in [3, 4)\), and \(\hat Q\) jumps from 3 to 4 at \(p = 0.5\). So \(\hat Q\) is a generalized inverse of \(\hat F\), not an inverse in the usual sense: \(\hat Q(\hat F(t)) \le t\) for every \(t \ge x_{(1)}\), with equality only at the observed values.