The word "distribution" has a variety of disparate meanings in different areas of mathematics.
A statistical distribution is the probability measure induced by a random
variable. For a real-valued random
variable 
,
its distribution function 
, also called the cumulative distribution function (CDF)
or cumulative frequency function, gives the probability
that 
takes a value less than or equal to a real 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 a continuous linear functional on the function space of test functions, equipped with its usual topology (NIST, §1.16(i)).
