densitysupporting

Density-supporting is a descriptive term used in probability theory and statistics to describe a probability density function or modeling approach whose support is restricted to a specific subset of the sample space. A density is density-supporting when its density is nonzero only on a prescribed region and zero outside that region. The choice of support expresses prior knowledge, constraints, or structural assumptions about the phenomenon being modeled. In practice, density-supporting models include truncated or bounded distributions, where the domain is limited to an interval or region; the density can be renormalized from a base density or defined as a conditional density given that the variable lies in the region.

The concept also appears in kernel density estimation with bounded support and in mixture models where components have restricted support. In mathematical terms, if f is a density on R^d and the support of f is contained in a set S, then the integral of f over S equals 1 and f(x) = 0 for x outside S. Density-supporting ideas underpin density estimation, Bayesian modeling with density-supporting priors, and restricted likelihood methods, where feasible regions reflect domain knowledge or physical constraints.

Related ideas include compact or bounded support, truncated distributions, and priors or models that enforce support restrictions. Challenges associated with density-supporting models include boundary bias near the edge of the support, difficulty of sampling or optimization when the feasible region is complex, and potential bias introduced by truncation. Overall, the term describes a way to incorporate structural constraints into the modeling of probability densities.