How to identify the distribution of the data set?

Given a data set (.mat file). How can I identify the distribution (Normal, Gaussian, etc) of the data in matlab? Is there any built-in function that helps to do this?

For example, I'd like to identify the distribution of the Ionosphere data set.

Answer 1

[John]

Plot the histogram. Use 'hist'. Depending on the number of samples in the data set, you will want to increase the number of bins accordingly to get better resolution. As with all statistical analysis, the more data you sample, the better your fit will be.

[alex brown]

Doubts about distribution of the answers generated by randfixedsum!

check this:

clc
close all

for i=1:1000
   an(:,i)=randfixedsum(24,1,3600,5,300);
end
% histogram(an(1,:))
hold on
histogram(an(5,:))

look carefully at the distribution. I don't think it is uniformly distributed.

Answer 2

[Mohammad Tanhaemami]

Check this out:

https://blogs.mathworks.com/pick/2012/02/10/finding-the-best/

Answer 3

[Image Analyst]

Of course the histogram is the actual distribution. But if you want a model distribution, look into kstest(), kstest2(), lillietest(), etc.

[alex brown]

Thank you for helping me. Is there any function for testing the uniform distribution?! what is the criteria for a distribution to be uniform?!