The Delaporte distribution is a discrete probability distribution that has received attention in actuarial science.[1][2] It can be defined using the convolution of a negative binomial distribution with a Poisson distribution.[2] Just as the negative binomial distribution can be viewed as a Poisson distribution where the mean parameter is itself a random variable with a gamma distribution, the Delaporte distribution can be viewed as a compound distribution based on a Poisson distribution, where there are two components to the mean parameter: a fixed component, which has the parameter, and a gamma-distributed variable component, which has the and parameters.[3] The distribution is named for Pierre Delaporte, who analyzed it in relation to automobile accident claim counts in 1959,[4] although it appeared in a different form as early as 1934 in a paper by Rolf von Lüders,[5] where it was called the Formel II distribution.[2]
^Delaporte, Pierre J. (1960). "Quelques problèmes de statistiques mathématiques poses par l'Assurance Automobile et le Bonus pour non sinistre" [Some problems of mathematical statistics as related to automobile insurance and no-claims bonus]. Bulletin Trimestriel de l'Institut des Actuaires Français (in French). 227: 87–102.