F(x;\lambda) = \begin{cases}
1 - e^{-\lambda x}, & x \ge 0, \\
0, & x \lt 0.
\end{cases}
The distribution has support . If a random variable has this distribution, we write
Alternative parameterization
Sometimes the exponential distribution is parameterized by where is the mean of the distribution. Thus, to avoid ambiguity it is important to specify whether the parameter denotes the rate or mean.