 The gamma function finds application in such diverse areas as quantum physics, astrophysics and fluid dynamics.The gamma distribution, which is formulated in terms of the gamma function, is used in statistics to model a wide range of processes; for example, the time between occurrences of earthquakes.The primary reason for the gamma function's usefulness in such contexts is the prevalence of expressions of the type formula_259 which describe processes that decay exponentially in time or space.