Question about using function

[hankiwan]

I have a question that how to use a function scipy.stats.rv_continuous.ppf in SciPy package v0.7.

In SciPy Reference Guide, there is description as below.

rv_continuous.ppf(q, *args, **kwds)
Percent point function (inverse of cdf) at q of the given RV.

Parameters:
q : array-like, lower tail probability
arg1, arg2, arg3,... : array-like, The shape parameter(s) for the distribution (see docstring of the instance object for more information)
loc : array-like, optional, location parameter (default=0)
scale : array-like, optional, scale parameter (default=1)

Returns:
x : array-like, quantile corresponding to the lower tail probability q.


I have just started to learn Vizard (Python).
Could you please explain what are *args and **kwds mean? (Do * and ** have additional mean?)
I am confused that what types of parameters are required for using a function rv_continuous.ppf.
If I could get illustrating with examples, it will be a great help to me.

Best regards.

[Jeff]

the following link explains *args and **kw

http://pythonfilter.com/blog/what-do...args-mean.html