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Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
Moment
  • See Also
    • Mean
    • Expectation
    • CentralMoment
    • FactorialMoment
    • Cumulant
    • MomentGeneratingFunction
    • MomentConvert
  • Related Guides
    • Statistical Moments and Generating Functions
    • Random Variables
    • Descriptive Statistics
    • Symbolic Vectors, Matrices and Arrays
    • See Also
      • Mean
      • Expectation
      • CentralMoment
      • FactorialMoment
      • Cumulant
      • MomentGeneratingFunction
      • MomentConvert
    • Related Guides
      • Statistical Moments and Generating Functions
      • Random Variables
      • Descriptive Statistics
      • Symbolic Vectors, Matrices and Arrays

Moment[data,r]

gives the order r moment of data.

Moment[data,{r1,…,rm}]

gives the order {r1,…,rm} multivariate moment of data.

Moment[dist,…]

gives the moment of the distribution dist.

Moment[r]

represents the order r formal moment.

Details
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Basic Uses  
Array Data  
Image and Audio Data  
Distribution and Process Moments  
Formal Moments  
Applications  
Moments for Data and Time Series  
Method of Moments  
PDF Approximations from Moments  
Expectation Approximation from Moments  
Properties & Relations  
Possible Issues  
Neat Examples  
See Also
Related Guides
History
Cite this Page
BUILT-IN SYMBOL
  • See Also
    • Mean
    • Expectation
    • CentralMoment
    • FactorialMoment
    • Cumulant
    • MomentGeneratingFunction
    • MomentConvert
  • Related Guides
    • Statistical Moments and Generating Functions
    • Random Variables
    • Descriptive Statistics
    • Symbolic Vectors, Matrices and Arrays
    • See Also
      • Mean
      • Expectation
      • CentralMoment
      • FactorialMoment
      • Cumulant
      • MomentGeneratingFunction
      • MomentConvert
    • Related Guides
      • Statistical Moments and Generating Functions
      • Random Variables
      • Descriptive Statistics
      • Symbolic Vectors, Matrices and Arrays

Moment

Moment[data,r]

gives the order r moment of data.

Moment[data,{r1,…,rm}]

gives the order {r1,…,rm} multivariate moment of data.

Moment[dist,…]

gives the moment of the distribution dist.

Moment[r]

represents the order r formal moment.

Details

  • Moment is also known as a raw moment.
  • For scalar order r and data being an array :
  • x in TemplateBox[{Vectors, paclet:ref/Vectors}, RefLink, BaseStyle -> {3ColumnTableMod}][n]sum of r^(th) powers »
    x in TemplateBox[{Matrices, paclet:ref/Matrices}, RefLink, BaseStyle -> {3ColumnTableMod}][{n,m}]columnwise sum of r^(th) powers »
    x in TemplateBox[{Arrays, paclet:ref/Arrays}, RefLink, BaseStyle -> {3ColumnTableMod}][{n_(1),...,n_(k)}]columnwise sum of r^(th) powers »
  • Moment[x,r] is equivalent to ArrayReduce[Moment[#,r]&,x,1].
  • For vector order {r1,…,rm} and data being array :
  • x in TemplateBox[{Matrices, paclet:ref/Matrices}, RefLink, BaseStyle -> {3ColumnTableMod}][{n,m}]sum the rj^(th) power in the j^(th) column
    x in TemplateBox[{Arrays, paclet:ref/Arrays}, RefLink, BaseStyle -> {3ColumnTableMod}][{n_(1),...,n_(k)}]sum the rj^(th) power in the j^(th) column »
  • Moment[x,{r1,…,rm}] is equivalent to ArrayReduce[Moment[#,{r_1,r_2,...,r_m}]&,x,{{1},{2}}].
  • Moment handles both numerical and symbolic data.
  • The data can have the following additional forms and interpretations:
  • Associationthe values (the keys are ignored) »
    WeightedDataweighted mean, based on the underlying EmpiricalDistribution »
    EventDatabased on the underlying SurvivalDistribution »
    TimeSeries, TemporalData, …vector or array of values (the time stamps ignored) »
    Image,Image3DRGB channels values or grayscale intensity value »
    Audioamplitude values of all channels »
  • For a distribution dist, the r^(th) moment is given by Expectation[xr,xdist]. »
  • For a multivariate distribution dist, the {r1,…,rm}^(th) moment is given by Expectation[x1r1⋯ xmrm,{x1,…,xm}dist]. »
  • For a random process proc, the moment function can be computed for slice distribution at time t, SliceDistribution[proc,t], as μr[t]=Moment[SliceDistribution[proc,t],r]. »
  • Moment[r] can be used in functions such as MomentConvert, MomentEvaluate, etc. »

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (2)

Compute moments from data:

Use symbolic data:

Compute the second moment of a univariate distribution:

The moment for a multivariate distribution:

Scope  (22)

Basic Uses  (6)

Exact input yields exact output:

Approximate input yields approximate output:

Find moments of WeightedData:

Find a moment of EventData:

Find a moment of TimeSeries:

The moment depends only on the values:

Find a moment for data involving quantities:

Array Data  (5)

For a matrix, Moment gives columnwise moments:

For an array, Moment gives columnwise moments at the first level:

Multivariate Moment for an array:

Works with large arrays:

When the input is an Association, Moment works on its values:

SparseArray data can be used just like dense arrays:

Find the moment of a QuantityArray:

Image and Audio Data  (2)

Channelwise moment of an RGB image:

Moment intensity value of a grayscale image:

On audio objects, Moment works channelwise:

Distribution and Process Moments  (5)

Scalar moment for univariate distributions:

Scalar moment for multivariate distributions:

Joint moment for multivariate distributions:

Compute a moment for a symbolic order r:

A moment may only evaluate for specific orders:

A moment may only evaluate numerically:

Moments for derived distributions:

Data distribution:

Moment function for a random process:

Find a moment of TemporalData at a time t=0.5:

Find the corresponding moment function together with all the simulations:

Formal Moments  (4)

TraditionalForm formatting for formal moments:

Convert combinations of formal moments to an expression involving Moment:

Evaluate an expression involving formal moments μ2+μ3 for a distribution:

Evaluate for data:

Find a sample estimator for an expression involving Moment:

Evaluate the resulting estimator for data:

Applications  (10)

Moments for Data and Time Series  (3)

The law of large numbers states that a sample moment approaches a population moment as the sample size increases. Use Histogram to show probability distribution of a second sample moment of uniform random variates for different sample sizes:

Visualize the convergence process:

Compute a moving moment of a time series data:

Use the window of length .1:

Compute moments for slices of a collection of paths of a random process:

Choose a few slice times:

Plot the fourth moments over these paths:

Method of Moments  (3)

Estimate parameters of a distribution using the method of moments:

Compare the data with the estimated parametric distribution:

Find normal approximation to GammaDistribution using the method of moments:

Show how and depend on and :

Compare the original and the approximated distributions:

Moments of PearsonDistribution satisfy a three-term recurrence equation implied by the defining differential equation for the density function :

Verify the moment equations:

Use the recurrence equation to express parameters of PearsonDistribution in terms of its moments:

Fit PearsonDistribution to data:

Check that moments of the resulting distribution are equal to moments of data:

PDF Approximations from Moments  (3)

Two different distributions can have the same sequence of moments:

Compare their densities on log-scale:

Compute their moments:

Prove them equal for all non-negative integer orders:

Build type A Gram–Charlier expansion of order 6:

A monotone PDF with a positive domain is bounded by :

Prove the identity for exponential distribution for the first few orders:

Expectation Approximation from Moments  (1)

Find quadrature rule for approximating the expectation of a function of a random variable:

Find lowest-order orthogonal polynomials:

Check their orthonormality:

Find quadrature points:

Find quadrature weights, requiring rule to be exact on polynomials of order up to :

Compute approximation to expectation of :

Check with NExpectation:

Properties & Relations  (8)

Moment of order r is equivalent to Expectation of the power r of the random variable:

A multivariate moment is equivalent to Expectation of a multivariate monomial:

For univariate distributions, Moment of order one is the Mean:

The same is true for data:

Mean of a multivariate distribution is a list of moments of its univariate marginal distributions:

Alternatively, use Moment with orders given by unit vectors:

Moment of order is the same as when both exist:

Use Moment directly:

Find the moment-generating function by using GeneratingFunction:

Compare with direct evaluation of MomentGeneratingFunction:

Moment can be expressed through CentralMoment, Cumulant or FactorialMoment:

Sample moments are unbiased estimators of population moments:

Hence the sampling distribution expectation of the estimator equals the estimated moment:

Verify this on a sample of fixed size; evaluate the estimator on the sample:

Find its expectation assuming independent identically distributed random variables and :

The multivariate moment of an array of depth has depth :

Possible Issues  (2)

Heavy-tailed distributions may only have a few low-order moments defined:

Some heavy-tailed distributions have no moments defined:

Often, quantiles can be used to characterize distributions:

Neat Examples  (2)

Find an unbiased estimator for a product of moments:

Check unbiasedness for a special case of on a GammaDistribution:

The distribution of Moment estimates for 20, 100 and 300 samples:

See Also

Mean  Expectation  CentralMoment  FactorialMoment  Cumulant  MomentGeneratingFunction  MomentConvert

Related Guides

    ▪
  • Statistical Moments and Generating Functions
  • ▪
  • Random Variables
  • ▪
  • Descriptive Statistics
  • ▪
  • Symbolic Vectors, Matrices and Arrays

History

Introduced in 2010 (8.0) | Updated in 2024 (14.0)

Wolfram Research (2010), Moment, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Moment.html (updated 2024).

Text

Wolfram Research (2010), Moment, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Moment.html (updated 2024).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2010. "Moment." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2024. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Moment.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2010). Moment. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Moment.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_moment, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Moment}", year="2024", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Moment.html}", note=[Accessed: 01-March-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_moment, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Moment}, year={2024}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Moment.html}, note=[Accessed: 01-March-2026]}

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