I am trying to fit a non-standard PDF to data using FindDistributionParameters. My custom distribution is defined like this: ```mathematica fs = Function[{so,l, n}, TransformedDistribution[ so - l/2 c, c \[Distributed] NoncentralChiSquareDistribution[n, 2 so/l], Assumptions -> so > 0 && n > 0 && l > 0 ] ]; ``` My data corresponds to measurements of a variable on N individuals. For each individual I have multiple measurements to take into account the measurement error. My data is similar to this : ```mathematica SeedRandom[1]; trueValue = RandomVariate[fs[so, l, n] /. {so -> 1, l -> 0.1, n -> 2}, 100];(* true value for each individual, which I don't know*) errorSD = RandomVariate[ChiSquareDistribution[3], 100]/10; (*standard deviations of the measurment error for each individual*) fullMeasurement = RandomVariate[NormalDistribution[#[[1]], #[[2]]], 5] & /@ Transpose[{trueValue, errorSD}]; myData = {Mean[#], StandardDeviation[#]} & /@ fullMeasurement(*Simulated data set similar to my real data*) ``` As a first approach, I used FindDistributionParameters on the mean of the measurements. ```mathematica p = FindDistributionParameters[myData[[All,1]], fs[so, l, n], ParameterEstimator -> {"MaximumLikelihood", Method -> "NMaximize", MaxIterations -> 500, AccuracyGoal -> 5}]; Show[ Histogram[myData[[All,1]], 15, "ProbabilityDensity"], Plot[PDF[fs[so,l, n] /. p, x], {x, -2, 1}, PlotRange -> All, PlotStyle -> Thick] ] ``` [![Yellow : histogram of simulated data. Blue line : PDF of the custom distribution with the estimated parameters][1]][1] However with this approach I am not using the information of the standard deviation of the measurements. As a second approach, assuming the error is normally distributed, I tried to make a convolution of my custom distribution and a normal distribution. I first tried to get the PDF of the convolution using either Convolve or directly integrating with Integrate but it did not work. Then tried to use TransformedDistribution to create the convolution and use FindDistributionParameters: ```mathematica fse = Function[{so, l, n, sd}, TransformedDistribution[ so - l/2 c + e, {c \[Distributed] NoncentralChiSquareDistribution[n, 2 so/l], e \[Distributed] NormalDistribution[0, sd]}, Assumptions -> so > 0 && n > 0 && l > 0 && sd > 0 ] ]; FindDistributionParameters[data, fse[so, l, n, sd] /. sd -> Mean[data[[All,2]]], ParameterEstimator -> {"MaximumLikelihood", Method -> "NMaximize", MaxIterations -> 500, AccuracyGoal -> 5}]; ``` However it runs indefinitely, and this approach is using only the mean of the standard deviations and not the value for each individual. **Is their a better (and more efficient) way to include the measurement error in the estimation method ?** [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/9klw4.png