Binomial Distribution

With this article you’ll learn to master the binomial distribution. The following topics appeared 37 times in the last final exams:

Explanation

Definition

The binomial distribution is a discrete probability distribution. It describes how often in n trials with a success probability of p a certain event occurs. The random variable X counts the successes.

P(X = k) = \binom{n}{k} \cdot p^k \cdot (1-p)^{n-k}

Procedure

Scheme

Calculate the probability of a specific event using the binomial formula.

P(X = k) = \binom{n}{k} \cdot p^k \cdot (1-p)^{n-k}

Calculate the expected value, which gives the mean of the distribution.

E(X) = n \cdot p

For n = 20 and p = 0{,}3: Calculate E(X) = 20 \cdot 0{,}3 = 6.

Calculate the standard deviation, which describes the spread of the values.

\sigma = \sqrt{n \cdot p \cdot (1-p)}

For n = 20 and p = 0{,}3: \sigma = \sqrt{20 \cdot 0{,}3 \cdot 0{,}7} \approx 2{,}05.

Missunderstandings

Common Errors
  • It is often forgotten to calculate the combination \binom{n}{k} correctly.
  • It is often overlooked that p and 1 - p together 1 result in.
  • It is often a rounding error when calculating the standard deviation.

Problems

1 / 3
Calculate
P(X = 2) for n = 5,\, p = 0{,}4
2 / 3
Calculate the expected value for
n = 15,\, p = 0{,}5
3 / 3
Calculate the standard deviation for
n = 25,\, p = 0{,}2
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