The Binomial Distribution - Portland Community College二项分布-波特兰社区学院.docVIP

The Binomial Distribution We have seen examples of the binomial distribution in chapter 4. Recall the example involving Shaqs freethrow ability. If we ask the question what is the chance that Shaq will make 3 out of 5 freethrows, assuming the following conditions, this situation can be modeled using a binomial distribution. What are the assumptions? The probability of making a freethrow is fixed, and we will denote it by p. The events consisting of making free throws are independent from each other. There is a fixed number of attempts, called trials. Each event can only results in two outcomes which will call success and failure. For our example we have Shaq has a 40% chance of making a free throw. If Shaq makes or misses the first freethrow, the probability of making the next freethrow does not change, it continues to be 40% For our example Shaq will attempt 5 freethrows. And finally Shaq can make or miss a freethrow (two possible outcomes). What we have described is a binomial situation. The random variable X, which for this special situation we will rename the Binomial random Variable, counts the number of successes in a situation with n trials. The probability distribution table for this random variable is what we will call the binomial distribution. Again consider the Shaq example. If we ask Shaq to attempt 5 freethrows, the number of trials is 5 (n = 5). So the binomial random variable will count the number of basket he makes out of the five. We could just as easily defined the binomial random variable to count the number of misses out the five attempts. To create the probability distribution table we need to know what is the chance that he makes 0 freethrows, 1 freethrow, 2 freethrows, and so on. The P(X = 0) consist of missing 5 shots in a row. Since the events are independent we just need to multiply P(missing a freethrow) = 0.6 five times in a row. P(X = 0) = (0.6)5 = .07776. What is the probability that he makes one free throw out of t