The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random variable X is given by the probability of the variable being less or equal to the threshold x:
P[X≤x]=∫x−∞p(ξ)dξ=CDF(x)
Likewise, the probability of the variable X being greater than the threshold x is given by the complementary CDF (CCDF):
P[X>x]=∫∞xp(ξ)dξ=CCDF(x)=1−CDF(x)
For a standard normal distribution (i.e. σ=1) the CDF and CCDF are called the Φ-function and Q-function, respectively. By the normalization x′=xσ, we find the CDF and CCDF for any normal distribution with standard deviation σ by
CDF(x)=P[X≤x]=Φ(xσ)
and
CCDF(x)=P[X>x]=Q(xσ).
Furthermore, we have
P[x1<X≤x2]=Q(x1σ)−Q(x2σ).
Using symmetry, we have the following properties of Φ and Q:
Q(x′)=Φ(−x′)=1−Φ(x′)
Q(−x′)=1−Q(x′)
There are no closed form expressions for Φ and Q. Many numerical software libraries however provide implementations (using series expansion with high accuracy) of the complement error function (erfc), which is directly related to Q via
Q(x′)=1√2π∫∞x′e−12ξ2=12erfc(x′√2)