mvtrnd

Multivariate t random numbers

Syntax

R = mvtrnd(C,df,cases) R = mvtrnd(C,df)

Description

R = mvtrnd(C,df,cases) returns a matrix of random numbers chosen from the multivariate t distribution, where C is a correlation matrix. df is the degrees of freedom and is either a scalar or is a vector with cases elements. If p is the number of columns in C, then the output R has cases rows and p columns.

Let t represent a row of R. Then the distribution of t is that of a vector having a multivariate normal distribution with mean 0, variance 1, and covariance matrix C, divided by an independent chi-square random value having df degrees of freedom. The rows of R are independent.

C must be a square, symmetric and positive definite matrix. If its diagonal elements are not all 1 (that is, if C is a covariance matrix rather than a correlation matrix), mvtrnd rescales C to transform it to a correlation matrix before generating the random numbers.

R = mvtrnd(C,df) returns a single random number from the multivariate t distribution.

Examples

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Generate Multivariate t Distribution Random Numbers

Open Live Script

Generate random numbers from a multivariate t distribution with correlation parameters SIGMA = [1 0.8;0.8 1] and 3 degrees of freedom.

rng default;  % For reproducibility
SIGMA = [1 0.8;0.8 1];
R = mvtrnd(SIGMA,3,100);

Plot the random numbers.

figure;
plot(R(:,1),R(:,2),'+')

Figure contains an axes object. The axes contains a line object which displays its values using only markers.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a