On the reversed hazard rate

The reversed hazard rate defined as the ratio of the density to the distribution function had attracted the attention of researchers only relatively recently. Being in a certain sense a dual function to an ordinary hazard rate, it still bears some interesting features useful in reliability analysis. One of its most important properties is the connection with the mean waiting time studied in this paper. The application to ordering of random variables via the proportional reversed hazard rate model is also considered. Possible applications are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.