The empirical (cumulative) distribution function of a set of numerical data is, for each real value of x, the fraction of observations that are less than or equal to x. A plot of the empirical distribution function is an uneven set of stairs. The width of the stairs is the spacing between adjacent data; the height of the stairs depends on how many data have exactly the same value. The distribution function is zero for small enough (negative) values of x, and is unity for large enough values of x. It increases monotonically: if y > x, the empirical distribution function evaluated at y is at least as large as the empirical distribution function evaluated at x.