Modeling Bimodal and Skewed Data: Asymmetric Double Normal Distribution with Applications in Regression

This paper introduces a flexible distribution called the asymmetric double normal distribution, specifically designed to model univariate data exhibiting asymmetry and either unimodal or bimodal characteristics. This distribution is highly flexible, capable of capturing a wide range of data behaviors, from smooth densities to those with thinner tails. It generalizes the skew-normal distribution as a special case and provides a simpler alternative to mixture models by avoiding issues related to parameter identifiability. This study explores the structural and theoretical properties of the asymmetric double normal distribution, and parameter estimation is carried out using the maximum likelihood method. Simulation experiments assess the performance of the estimators, while applications in regression and real-life data fitting illustrate the practical relevance of this model. This proposed distribution proves to be a powerful tool for modeling asymmetric and bimodal data, offering significant advantages for statistical analysis in diverse applications.