Probability Distributions

Statistics for Business and Economics

6th Edition

Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. Chap 5-2

Introduction to Probability Distributions

Random Variable Represents a possible numerical value from

a random experimentRandom Variables

Discrete Random Variable

ContinuousRandom Variable

Ch. 5 Ch. 6

Discrete Random Variables Can only take on a countable number of values

Examples:

Roll a die twiceLet X be the number of times 4 comes up (then X could be 0, 1, or 2 times)

Toss a coin 5 times. Let X be the number of heads(then X = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5)

Experiment: Toss 2 Coins. Let X = # heads.

T

T

Discrete Probability Distribution

4 possible outcomes

T

T

H

H

H H

Probability Distribution

0 1 2 x

x Value Probability

0 1/4 = .25

1 2/4 = .50

2 1/4 = .25

.50

.25

P

r

o

b

a

b

i

l

i

t

y

Show P(x) , i.e., P(X = x) , for all values of x:

P(x) 0 for any value of x

The individual probabilities sum to 1;

(The notation indicates summation over all possible x values)

Probability DistributionRequired Properties

=x

1P(x)

Cumulative Probability Function

The cumulative probability function, denotedF(x0), shows the probability that X is less than or equal to x0

In other words,

)xP(X)F(x 00 =

=

0xx0 P(x))F(x

Expected Value Expected Value (or mean) of a discrete

distribution (Weighted Average)

Example: Toss 2 coins, x = # of heads,

compute expected value of x:E(x) = (0 x .25) + (1 x .50) + (2 x .25)

= 1.0

x P(x)0 .251 .502 .25

==x

P(x)x E(x)

Variance and Standard Deviation

Variance of a discrete random variable X

Standard Deviation of a discrete random variable X

==x

22 P(x))(x

==x

222 P(x))(x)E(X

Standard Deviation Example

Example: Toss 2 coins, X = # heads, compute standard deviation (recall E(x) = 1)

.707.50(.25)1)(2(.50)1)(1(.25)1)(0 222 ==++=

Possible number of heads = 0, 1, or 2

=x

2P(x))(x

Binomial Probability Distribution A fixed number of observations, n

e.g., 15 tosses of a coin; ten light bulbs taken from a warehouse Two mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

categories Generally called success and failure Probability of success is P , probability of failure is 1 P

Constant probability for each observation e.g., Probability of getting a tail is the same each time we toss

the coin Observations are independent

The outcome of one observation does not affect the outcome of the other

Sequences of x Successes in n Trials

The number of sequences with x successes in n independent trials is:

Where n! = n(n 1)(n 2) . . . 1 and 0! = 1

These sequences are mutually exclusive, since no two can occur at the same time

x)!(nx!n!Cnx

=

P(x) = probability of x successes in n trials,with probability of success P on each trial

x = number of successes in sample, (x = 0, 1, 2, ..., n)

n = sample size (number of trials or observations)

P = probability of success

P(x) nx ! n x

P (1- P)X n X!( )!====

Example: Flip a coin four times, let x = # heads:

n = 4

P = 0.51 - P = (1 - 0.5) = 0.5

x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

Binomial Probability Distribution

Example: Calculating a Binomial ProbabilityWhat is the probability of one success in five observations if the probability of success is 0.1?

x = 1, n = 5, and P = 0.1

.32805.9)(5)(0.1)(0

0.1)(1(0.1)1)!(51!

5!

P)(1Px)!(nx!

n!1)P(x

4

151

XnX

=

=

=

==

Binomial DistributionMean and Variance

Mean

Variance and Standard Deviation

nPE(x) ==

P)nP(1-2 =P)nP(1- =

Where n = sample sizeP = probability of success(1 P) = probability of failure

n = 5 P = 0.1

n = 5 P = 0.5

Mean

0.2.4.6

0 1 2 3 4 5x

P(x)

.2

.4

.6

0 1 2 3 4 5x

P(x)

0

0.5(5)(0.1)nP ===

0.67080.1)(5)(0.1)(1P)nP(1-

=

==

2.5(5)(0.5)nP ===

1.1180.5)(5)(0.5)(1P)nP(1-

=

==

Binomial CharacteristicsExamples

Using Binomial Tables

N x p=.20 p=.25 p=.30 p=.35 p=.40 p=.45 p=.5010 0

123456789

10

0.10740.26840.30200.20130.08810.02640.00550.00080.00010.00000.0000

0.05630.18770.28160.25030.14600.05840.01620.00310.00040.00000.0000

0.02820.12110.23350.26680.20010.10290.03680.00900.00140.00010.0000

0.01350.07250.17570.25220.23770.15360.06890.02120.00430.00050.0000

0.00600.04030.12090.21500.25080.20070.11150.04250.01060.00160.0001

0.00250.02070.07630.16650.23840.23400.15960.07460.02290.00420.0003

0.00100.00980.04390.11720.20510.24610.20510.11720.04390.00980.0010

Examples: n = 10, x = 3, P = 0.35: P(x = 3|n =10, p = 0.35) = .2522n = 10, x = 8, P = 0.45: P(x = 8|n =10, p = 0.45) = .0229

The Poisson Distribution

Apply the Poisson Distribution when: You wish to count the number of times an event

occurs in a given continuous interval The probability that an event occurs in one subinterval

is very small and is the same for all subintervals The number of events that occur in one subinterval is

independent of the number of events that occur in the other subintervals

The average number of events per unit is (lambda)

Poisson Distribution Formula

where:x = number of successes per unit = expected number of successes per unite = base of the natural logarithm system (2.71828...)

x!eP(x)

x

=

Poisson Distribution Characteristics

Mean

Variance and Standard Deviation

E(x) ==

]2 == 2)[( XE =

where = expected number of successes per unit

Using Poisson Tables

X

0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90

01234567

0.90480.09050.00450.00020.00000.00000.00000.0000

0.81870.16370.01640.00110.00010.00000.00000.0000

0.74080.22220.03330.00330.00030.00000.00000.0000

0.67030.26810.05360.00720.00070.00010.00000.0000

0.60650.30330.07580.01260.00160.00020.00000.0000

0.54880.32930.09880.01980.00300.00040.00000.0000

0.49660.34760.12170.02840.00500.00070.00010.0000

0.44930.35950.14380.03830.00770.00120.00020.0000

0.40660.36590.16470.04940.01110.00200.00030.0000

Example: Find P(X = 2) if = .50

.07582!(0.50)e

!Xe)2X(P

20.50X

==

==

Graph of Poisson Probabilities

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

x

P

(

x

)

X =

0.5001234567

0.60650.30330.07580.01260.00160.00020.00000.0000

P(X = 2) = .0758

Graphically: = .50

Poisson Distribution Shape

The shape of the Poisson Distribution depends on the parameter :

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

x

P

(

x

)

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

x

P

(

x

)

= 0.50 = 3.00

The Normal Distribution

Bell Shaped Symmetrical Mean, Median and Mode

are EqualLocation is determined by the mean,

Spread is determined by the standard deviation,

The random variable has an infinite theoretical range: + to

Mean = Median = Mode

x

f(x)

The Normal Probability Distribution

The formula for the normal probability distribution is

Where e = the mathematical constant approximated by 2.71828 = the mathematical constant approximated by 3.14159 = the population mean = the population standard deviationx = any value of the continuous variable, < x <

22 /2)(xe21f(x) =

The Standardized Normal Any normal distribution (with any mean and variance

combination) can be transformed into the standardized normal distribution (Z), with mean 0 and variance 1

1)N(0~Z ,

XZ =

Z

f(Z)

01

Example

If X is distributed normally with mean of 100and standard deviation of 50, the Z value for X = 200 is

2.050

100200

XZ ===