Chapter 14
Covering All Angles of the Geometric Distribution
IN THIS CHAPTER
Recognizing the geometric distribution
Finding probabilities for the geometric distribution
Uncovering the mean, variance, and standard deviation of the geometric distribution
The geometric distribution may remind you of one of our old friends from Chapter 8, the binomial distribution. (If you’ve not covered that section yet, don’t worry; we start from scratch in this chapter.) While the binomial distribution counts the number of times a certain event occurs in n fixed trials, the geometric distribution counts the number of trials until a certain event occurs. For example, instead of counting the number of heads in ten coin flips, as the binomial does, the geometric counts the number of flips needed to get ten heads.
In this chapter, you unlock the geometric distribution’s characteristics; examine its probabilities; probe its mean, variance, and standard deviation; and work some problems. Sound like a plan?
Characteristics of the Geometric Distribution
The geometric distribution is based on the geometric series from math. It is a sum of the values of a fraction between 0 and 1 taken to higher and higher ...
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