The word "distribution" has a variety of disparate meanings in different areas of mahematics.
A statistical distribution of a variable is a description of the relative numbers of times each possible outcome will occur
in a number of trials. Similarly, a distribution
function 
,
also called the cumulative distribution function (CDF) or cumulative frequency function,
describes the probability that a variate 
takes on a value less than or equal to a number 
.
In differential geometry, the distribution parameter of a noncylindrical ruled surface is a particular function of the surface's striction curve and director curve.
In functional analysis, a distribution (also called a generalized function or ideal function), is the class of all regular sequences of particularly well-behaved functions equivalent to a given regular sequence.
