diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala
index daea2617e62ea..af9e31ba7b720 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala
@@ -993,7 +993,7 @@ abstract class RDD[T: ClassTag](
    */
   @Experimental
   def countApproxDistinct(p: Int, sp: Int): Long = {
-    require(p >= 4, s"p ($p) must be greater than 0")
+    require(p >= 4, s"p ($p) must be at least 4")
     require(sp <= 32, s"sp ($sp) cannot be greater than 32")
     require(sp == 0 || p <= sp, s"p ($p) cannot be greater than sp ($sp)")
     val zeroCounter = new HyperLogLogPlus(p, sp)
diff --git a/python/pyspark/rdd.py b/python/pyspark/rdd.py
index 2d80fad796957..6fc9f66bc5a94 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/rdd.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/rdd.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ def portable_hash(x):
 
     >>> portable_hash(None)
     0
-    >>> portable_hash((None, 1))
+    >>> portable_hash((None, 1)) & 0xffffffff
     219750521
     """
     if x is None:
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def portable_hash(x):
         for i in x:
             h ^= portable_hash(i)
             h *= 1000003
-            h &= 0xffffffff
+            h &= sys.maxint
         h ^= len(x)
         if h == -1:
             h = -2
@@ -1942,7 +1942,7 @@ def _is_pickled(self):
             return True
         return False
 
-    def _to_jrdd(self):
+    def _to_java_object_rdd(self):
         """ Return an JavaRDD of Object by unpickling
 
         It will convert each Python object into Java object by Pyrolite, whenever the
@@ -1977,7 +1977,7 @@ def sumApprox(self, timeout, confidence=0.95):
         >>> (rdd.sumApprox(1000) - r) / r < 0.05
         True
         """
-        jrdd = self.mapPartitions(lambda it: [float(sum(it))])._to_jrdd()
+        jrdd = self.mapPartitions(lambda it: [float(sum(it))])._to_java_object_rdd()
         jdrdd = self.ctx._jvm.JavaDoubleRDD.fromRDD(jrdd.rdd())
         r = jdrdd.sumApprox(timeout, confidence).getFinalValue()
         return BoundedFloat(r.mean(), r.confidence(), r.low(), r.high())
@@ -1993,11 +1993,40 @@ def meanApprox(self, timeout, confidence=0.95):
         >>> (rdd.meanApprox(1000) - r) / r < 0.05
         True
         """
-        jrdd = self.map(float)._to_jrdd()
+        jrdd = self.map(float)._to_java_object_rdd()
         jdrdd = self.ctx._jvm.JavaDoubleRDD.fromRDD(jrdd.rdd())
         r = jdrdd.meanApprox(timeout, confidence).getFinalValue()
         return BoundedFloat(r.mean(), r.confidence(), r.low(), r.high())
 
+    def countApproxDistinct(self, relativeSD=0.05):
+        """
+        :: Experimental ::
+        Return approximate number of distinct elements in the RDD.
+
+        The algorithm used is based on streamlib's implementation of
+        "HyperLogLog in Practice: Algorithmic Engineering of a State
+        of The Art Cardinality Estimation Algorithm", available
+        <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2452376.2452456">here</a>.
+
+        @param relativeSD Relative accuracy. Smaller values create
+                           counters that require more space.
+                           It must be greater than 0.000017.
+
+        >>> n = sc.parallelize(range(1000)).map(str).countApproxDistinct()
+        >>> 950 < n < 1050
+        True
+        >>> n = sc.parallelize([i % 20 for i in range(1000)]).countApproxDistinct()
+        >>> 18 < n < 22
+        True
+        """
+        if relativeSD < 0.000017:
+            raise ValueError("relativeSD should be greater than 0.000017")
+        if relativeSD > 0.37:
+            raise ValueError("relativeSD should be smaller than 0.37")
+        # the hash space in Java is 2^32
+        hashRDD = self.map(lambda x: portable_hash(x) & 0xFFFFFFFF)
+        return hashRDD._to_java_object_rdd().countApproxDistinct(relativeSD)
+
 
 class PipelinedRDD(RDD):
 
diff --git a/python/pyspark/tests.py b/python/pyspark/tests.py
index 3e7040eade1ab..f1a75cbff5c19 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/tests.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/tests.py
@@ -404,6 +404,22 @@ def test_zip_with_different_number_of_items(self):
         self.assertEquals(a.count(), b.count())
         self.assertRaises(Exception, lambda: a.zip(b).count())
 
+    def test_count_approx_distinct(self):
+        rdd = self.sc.parallelize(range(1000))
+        self.assertTrue(950 < rdd.countApproxDistinct(0.04) < 1050)
+        self.assertTrue(950 < rdd.map(float).countApproxDistinct(0.04) < 1050)
+        self.assertTrue(950 < rdd.map(str).countApproxDistinct(0.04) < 1050)
+        self.assertTrue(950 < rdd.map(lambda x: (x, -x)).countApproxDistinct(0.04) < 1050)
+
+        rdd = self.sc.parallelize([i % 20 for i in range(1000)], 7)
+        self.assertTrue(18 < rdd.countApproxDistinct() < 22)
+        self.assertTrue(18 < rdd.map(float).countApproxDistinct() < 22)
+        self.assertTrue(18 < rdd.map(str).countApproxDistinct() < 22)
+        self.assertTrue(18 < rdd.map(lambda x: (x, -x)).countApproxDistinct() < 22)
+
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, lambda: rdd.countApproxDistinct(0.00000001))
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, lambda: rdd.countApproxDistinct(0.5))
+
     def test_histogram(self):
         # empty
         rdd = self.sc.parallelize([])