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Statistics Essentials For Dummies
book

Statistics Essentials For Dummies

by Deborah J. Rumsey
May 2019
Beginner content levelBeginner
192 pages
4h 8m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from Statistics Essentials For Dummies

Chapter 4

The Binomial Distribution

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Identifying a binomial random variable

Bullet Finding probabilities using a formula or table

Bullet Calculating the mean and variance

A random variable is a characteristic, measurement, or count that changes randomly according to some set of probabilities; its notation is X, Y, Z, and so on. A list of all possible values of a random variable, along with their probabilities, is called a probability distribution. One of the most well-known probability distributions is the binomial. Binomial means “two names” and is associated with situations involving two outcomes: success or failure (hitting a red light or not; developing a side effect or not). This chapter focuses on the binomial distribution — when you can use it, finding probabilities for it, and finding the expected value and variance.

Characteristics of a Binomial

A random variable has a binomial distribution if all the following conditions are met:

  1. There are a fixed number of trials (n).
  2. Each trial has two possible outcomes: success or failure.
  3. The probability of success (call it p) is the same for each trial.
  4. The trials are independent, meaning the outcome of one trial doesn’t influence ...
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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781119590309Purchase book