Data Analysis & Simulation

In EasyFit 3.0 - back in 2006 - we introduced StatAssist, the built-in distribution viewer tool that closely integrates with the distribution fitting features of EasyFit. Since then, StatAssist has proven to be quite a useful feature, so we decided to include it into EasyFitXL, our distribution fitting add-in for Excel.

StatAssist displays graphs and other useful properties of all the probability distributions available in EasyFit. Even though it has initially been designed as an essential part of EasyFit, StatAssist can be used as a separate application – for example, to take a quick look at a distribution curve, or to calculate the distribution statistics… read the full article

Excel has become the de facto standard application for data analysis and presentation across a variety of industries, so if you deal with random data of any kind, chances are your data is stored in Excel workbooks. However, analyzing probability data in Excel can be tricky as the standard Excel package includes no facilities for fitting probability distributions to data. That is when EasyFitXL, the distribution fitting add-in for Excel, comes in handy… read the full article

Since 1991, the European Union has been promoting the use of numerical models to assess the environmental fate and risk of pesticides. Recently a group of scientists from the Catholic University and the Marche Polytechnic University (Italy) in association with Informatica Ambientale, the Milan-based research and computer science company, developed a tool that integrates one of the pesticide fate models with GIS software. Several distribution fitting software products were tested to introduce distribution functions in the risk assessment study, and EasyFit was selected as the most appropriate tool for analyzing annual mean pesticide concentration and determining the most suitable distribution… read the full case study

We are pleased to announce that a new version of EasyFit is now available for download.

EasyFit and EasyFitXL (distribution fitting add-in for Excel) now include support for 15 new probability distributions used in economics, finance, actuarial science, hydrology, communications theory, mechanical engineering, and other fields. To learn more about new features in this release, click here.

Upgrading From Previous Versions

If you purchased EasyFit on 23 October 2007 or later, you are entitled to a free upgrade, otherwise you qualify for a discounted upgrade. In either case, please contact us for upgrade information.

It’s been a while since we updated our blog - that’s because we have been working on a new version of EasyFit planned to be released later in October 2008. Below is a quick summary of new features in EasyFit.

(Note: The price for the new version is likely to increase, but since all licenses come with one year of free updates, you can still order EasyFit at the current price this month and upgrade to the upcoming new version for free.)

New Probability Distributions

EasyFit will include 15 new distributions:

The Burr (Singh-Maddala), Dagum (Inverse Burr), Pareto Type II (Lomax), and Log-Gamma distributions are mainly used in economics and actuarial science. We have had numerous requests for these models from some of our customers - actuaries and finance industry professionals.

The Generalized Gamma distribution is an advanced 4-parameter model including the Gamma, Weibull, and Half-Normal distributions as special cases.

The Pearson Type V (Inverse Gamma) and Pearson Type VI (Beta Prime) distributions are a part of the Pearson family of distributions often used in financial applications.

The Levy distribution is one of the few distributions that are stable and that have probability density functions that are analytically expressible, the others being the Normal distribution and the Cauchy distribution.

The Log-Pearson III (often referred to as “LP3″) distribution is the standard model recommended by the U.S. Water Resources Council for use by all U.S. Government agencies for flood frequency analysis.

The Nakagami (Nakagami-m) and Rice (Nakagami-n) distributions are used in communications theory to model signal fading under specific conditions.

The Kumaraswamy distribution is used in electrical, civil, mechanical, and financial engineering applications dealing with variables that are lower and upper bounded.

Some other new models include the Hyperbolic Secant, Error (Exponential Power), and Reciprocal distributions.

New Excel Functions

In EasyFit 4.0, we added the ability to analyze probability data in Excel, which has proven to be quite a useful feature. EasyFit 5.0 (Professional Edition) extends this functionality by introducing several new functions making it even easier to use distributions in your worksheet models.

The DistFit function allows to fit a specified distribution to your data and display the resulting model right in a worksheet. This function can be useful if you already know the underlying distribution (e.g. the Normal model) and only need to estimate the distribution parameters. The return value of this function can be supplied to several other new functions such as DistPdf, DistCdf, DistRand etc. For example, specifying

=DistCdf(DistFit(”Normal”; B1:B100); 2)

in a worksheet will fit the Normal distribution to the data in cells B1:B100, and then evaluate the CDF of the resulting Normal distribution at x=2.

This is a maintenance release which fixes a bug in EasyFit Professional causing Excel to crash under certain conditions. All users of EasyFit 4.x experiencing this problem can upgrade to EasyFit 4.3 by uninstalling the old version and installing the new one.

Starting from version 4.2, EasyFit is available in two editions: Standard and Professional. Both editions include the stand-alone application allowing to fit probability distributions to data, view distribution graphs and properties, perform probability calculations, and make projections/estimates. On top of that, the Professional edition includes the EasyFitXL add-in enabling you to use most of these features right in Excel (compare the editions).

The Standard and Professional editions are delivered as a single download: the installation package will ask you which edition of EasyFit to install. If you install the Professional edition, EasyFitXL will be automatically configured to work with your copy of Excel.

We offer a range of licenses, including the Perpetual and Annual licenses, for both product editions. Academic users can purchase the Professional edition at a discounted price.

If you purchased EasyFit 4.0 or 4.1, and would like to upgrade, you should choose “EasyFit Professional” during the installation process.

Click here to watch the quick Flash demo showing how to fit probability distributions using EasyFit and apply the best fitting distribution to perform specific calculations - for instance, make estimates using the quantile function, and calculate probabilities.

The data set used in this demo consists of maximum daily wind gust speeds recorded at Station TPLM2 located in the Atlantic Ocean during 2005-2007. This station is owned and maintained by the National Data Buoy Center, and measures wind speed, air temperature, sea temperature, and other data used for weather forecasting.

NOAA defines a wind gust as “a sudden, brief increase in speed of the wind” which usually lasts for less than 20 seconds. The relatively rare but very high wind gusts cause the most damage, that is why they are of more interest than the average daily wind speeds. In essence, the wind gusts are extreme events - no wonder the Generalized Extreme Value distribution perfectly fits the data:

(the x axis units are m/s)

The Student License is a new, affordable license that can be purchased and used by students of educational institutions for homework, coursework, and other non-commercial purposes. This license expires in 12 months, starting from the purchase date.

On the other hand, if you need to use EasyFit for more than one year - for example, for PhD research, then the Academic License would be a more cost-effective solution for you, since it doesn’t expire and can be used for as long as necessary. We have been offering the Academic License for almost 2 years now, and during that time, we have received a lot of useful feedback from our customers. We appreciate any kind of feedback, both positive and negative, so if you have something to say about EasyFit, or would like to share how you are using it exactly, feel free to let us know.

We are happy to announce that EasyFit is now available on a subscription basis, in addition to the traditional perpetual software licensing. The subscription licensing program enables you to legally use the full version of EasyFit for a limited period of time without the need for a large upfront investment. At the same time, you get access to the latest versions of the product and technical support.

Specifically, the Annual Subscription License allows you to use EasyFit for one year at a fraction of the Perpetual License price. We are also considering to offer additional shorter-term subscriptions such as semi-annual and quarterly licenses - please let us know if you are interested.

Why Subscription Software?
Outside the software world, the idea of charging customers per use or per time period is nothing new - consider your electricity or phone bills - because companies and individual users usually get paid monthly, they also prefer to spend monthly. Software vendors don’t want to get left behind and strive to offer “pay per use” and similar flexible pricing models. This approach has in fact been mastered by numerous online subscription sites that usually charge you per month.

The situation with desktop software is a bit different here: the customers are prepared to pay a relatively large upfront fee and optional annual maintenance fees due to historical reasons. After all, software users actually like to own the products they purchased. However, when it comes to large ticket items, there is a benefit in renting, or subscribing to, software products, which allows you to better manage your costs and save money in certain cases - for example, when you need the software for a short-term project.

There is also a positive side effect of subscription software: for a customer, it drives down the costs of switching to competing products, and thus motivates vendors to work harder on improving their software. Some large companies such as Autodesk already offer their rather expensive products on a yearly subscription basis as a cost-effective alternative to the perpetual licensing, and this is something other vendors should consider doing.