 Degeneracy of a multivariate distribution in "n" random variables arises when the support lies in a space of dimension less than "n".This occurs when at least one of the variables is a deterministic function of the others.For example, in the 2-variable case suppose that "Y" = "aX + b" for scalar random variables "X" and "Y" and scalar constants "a" ≠ 0 and "b"; here knowing the value of one of "X" or "Y" gives exact knowledge of the value of the other.