Distribution functions missing from Octave

[Karl Kastner]

The distribution functions like normcdf are missing from Octave. This seems to be a repackaging bug. The distributions where recently moved from the base to the statistics package. Apparently, the package versions in the repository are out of sync. I installed all octave packages, so it seems to be really missing and not hidden in a rare package.

octave:1> normcdf(0)
error: 'normcdf' undefined near line 1 column 1

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.10
Package: octave 4.4.1-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.18.0-25.26-generic 4.18.20
Uname: Linux 4.18.0-25-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.10-0ubuntu13.4
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Wed Aug 21 17:57:31 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-11-05 (1385 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Beta amd64 (20150805)
SourcePackage: octave
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to cosmic on 2018-10-18 (307 days ago)
modified.conffile..etc.apport.crashdb.conf: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.apport.crashdb.conf: 2019-03-07T14:28:39.455024

[Mike Miller (mtmiller)]

If you are on Ubuntu 18.10 and have the octave-statistics package installed, then try

octave:1> pkg load statistics
octave:2> normcdf (0)
ans = 0.50000

Packages are not loaded by default, is that the only issue you are having?

https://wiki.octave.org/FAQ#I_have_installed_a_package_but_still_get_a_.22foo_undefined.22_error.3F

[Karl Kastner (kastner-karl)]

Ah, I had completely forgotten about this pitfall for MATLAB user's, thanks a lot for the quick response