Experience with Two Estimators for the Three-Parameter Weibull Distribution

摘要

No adequate computer program existed at ARL to estimate the parameters of a three-parameter Weibull distribution from a set of experimental data. A method using Maximum Likelihood was developed and programmed, and tested with Weibull distributed data. Contour plots of the likelihood function have been made as a check on the convergence of the solution, and to help locate the maxima when the method fails to converge. A computerized version of a graphical method using extreme value probability paper was also developed, and the results of both methods compared.