On fitting a mixture of two von Mises distributions, with applications

Circular data refers to data recorded as points on a circle, either denoting directions, or times when the circle acts as a clock. The von Mises distribution is frequently used to analyze circular data sets with a clear peak. When two clear peaks appear on the circle, a mixture of two von Mises distributions is often used to analyze the data. Parameter estimates are produced by using maximum likelihood estimation, and Watson's U-square is used to test the fit. Two data sets will be discussed in this project: times of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) occurrences and times of Fatal Crash accidents.