[Numpy-discussion] Generating Bell Curves (was: Using normal() )

[Keith Goodman]

On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 4:15 PM, Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> wrote:
>    We need to generate bell-shaped curves given a midpoint, width (where y=0)

A Gaussian never reaches zero. But I suppose your code will return a
zero for large x when y is less than the smallest number your computer
can handle. But that is a poor way to define the width of a Gaussian.
The slope in the tails of the Gaussian is near zero so a small change
in y will results in a large change in your width.