Flexible Birnbaum-Saunders distribution

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a bimodal extension of the Birnbaum-Saunders model by including an extra parameter. This new model is termed flexible Birnbaum-Saunders (FBS) and includes the ordinary Birnbaum-Saunders (BS) and the skew Birnbaum-Saunders (SBS) model as special cases. Its properties are studied. Parameter estimation is considered via an iterative maximum likelihood approach. Two real applications, of interest in environmental sciences, are included, which reveal that our proposal can perform better than other competing models.