where k >0 is the shape parameter and θ > 0 is the scale parameter of the gamma distribution.
The expected value and standard deviation of a gamma random variable X are:
E(X) = kθ and
Var(X) = kθ2.
In case k is an integer, the gamma distribution is an Erlang distribution (so named in honor of A.K. Erlang) and is the probability distribution of the waiting time of the kth "arrival" in a one-dimensional Poisson process with intensity 1/θ. If k is a half-integer and θ = 2, then the gamma distribution is a chi-square distribution with 2k degrees of freedom.
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