midStatistics
What is kurtosis?
Updated May 17, 2026
Short answer
Measures tail heaviness of distribution.
Deep explanation
High kurtosis indicates heavy tails and outliers.
Real-world example
Financial returns often show high kurtosis.
Common mistakes
- Confusing kurtosis with peakedness only.
Follow-up questions
- What is leptokurtic?
- What is platykurtic?