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A random variable is a uncertain quantity whose value depends upon chance A random variable is a function of the sample space Discrete Random Variable
A discrete random variable can assume at most a countable number of values
If the outcome of a trial can only be either a success or a failure, then the trial is a Bernoulli trial The number of successes X in one Bernoulli trial, which can be 1 or 0, is a Bernoulli random variable
Binomial Distribution
The probability mass function is given by
n is the number of trials and p is the probability of success in each trial In Binomial Distribution, the number of trials is fixed, however the number of successes desired is random. In Negative Binomial Distribution, the number of successes desired is fixed and the number of trials is random
Geometric Distribution
It is a special case of the negative binomial distribution where s=1 The probability mass function is given by
Hypergeomteric Distribution
When a pool of size N contains S successes and (N-S) failures, and a random sample of size n is drawn from the pool, the number of successes X in the sample follows a hypergeometric distribution
Poisson Distibution
Poisson distribution may be used as a special case of the binomial distribution, where n may be very large and p may be very small, yet the product np lies between 0.01 to 50 In such a scenario, the binomial formula may be approximated by
The probabilities associated with a continuous random variable X are determined by the probability density function of the random variable. The function, denoted f(x), has the following properties
f(x) >=0 for all x. The probability that X will be between two numbers a and b is equal to the area under f(x) between a and b. The total area under the entire curve of f(x) is equal to 1.00.
Uniform Distribution
The probability density function is given
Exponential Distribution
Continuous limit of geometric distribution If an event occurs with an average frequency of occurrences per hour and this average frequency is constant in that the probability that the event will occur during any tiny duration t is t. Suppose further we arrive at the scene at any giventime and wait till the event occurs. The waiting time will then follow an exponential distribution Examples of exponential distribution
The time between two successive breakdowns of a machine will be exponentially distributed. This information is relevant to maintenance engineers. The mean in this case is known as the mean time between failures, or MTBF The life of a product that fails by accident rather than by wear-and-tear follows an exponential distribution. Electronic components are good examples. This information is relevant to warranty policies The time gap between two successive arrivals to a waiting line, known as the inter-arrival time, will be exponentially distributed. This information is relevant to waiting line management