Editing Extreme value theory (section)

{{Short description|Branch of statistics focusing on large deviations}}
{{About|the statistical theory|the result in calculus|extreme value theorem}}
[[File:1755 Lisbon earthquake.jpg|thumb|upright=1.78|Extreme value theory is used to model the risk of extreme, rare events, such as the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]].]]

'''Extreme value theory''' or '''extreme value analysis''' ('''EVA''') is the study of extremes in statistical distributions.

It is widely used in many disciplines, such as [[structural engineering]], [[finance]], [[economics]], [[earth science]]s, traffic prediction, and [[Engineering geology|geological engineering]]. For example, EVA might be used in the field of [[hydrology]] to estimate the probability of an unusually large flooding event, such as the [[100-year flood]]. Similarly, for the design of a [[breakwater (structure)|breakwater]], a [[coastal engineer]] would seek to estimate the 50&nbsp;year wave and design the structure accordingly.