PhFit: a general phase-type fitting tool

Abstract

PhFit, a new phase-type fitting tool is presented in this paper. PhFit allows for approximating distributions or set of samples not only by continuous but by discrete phase-type distributions as well. The implemented algorithms separate the fitting of the body and the tail part of the distribution which results in satisfactory fitting also for heavy-tail distributions. Moreover, PhFit allows the user to choose the distance measure according to which the fitting is performed. The tool is equipped with a graphical interface that visualizes the goodness of the provided approximation from several aspects.