Histogram Theories and Optimal Histogram Construction Algorithms

Histogram is the most widely used density estimator and data analysis tool. It is completely determined by two parameters: the bin width and one of the bin edges. However, many professional statisticians have no really definitive answers and simply give some intuitive advises when face to choose these two parameters. Even most statistical packages use the rules of thumbs for selecting the number of bins as a default. In this paper, we will present the histogram theories and optimal histogram construction algorithms that have been recently proposed. The methods of how to construct the data-based histograms are the emphasis of this paper.