moment-generating function
Technical term in probability theory and statistics. Used to characterize the distribution of a random variable.
Differentiating the moment-generating function yields the moments of the random variable.
Compound of 積率 (せきりつ, 'moment' in the statistical sense) and 母関数 (ぼかんすう, 'generating function'). The term is a direct translation of the English 'moment-generating function'.