Chapter6Project

One factor that my partner and I learned during Chapter 6 was what a random variable is and the
different types that occur. A random variable is defined as a variable where the value x is a chance or
random outcome. This random variable can be classified as two different kinds: discrete or continuous. A
discrete random variable is one that can take on only a finite or countable number of values (whole
numbers.) An example of this could be the sum of two die that are rolled. The sum can only be a whole
number. Much different from this is the continuous random variable. A continuous random variable is
defined as a variable that can take on any of the countless number of values in a line interval (decimals
and fractions.) An example for this type of random variable is the length of an individuals hair in inches.
The data collected will include decimals or fractions. Discrete and continuous are two ways to classify a
random variable.
A probability distribution is an assignment of probabilities to each distinct value of a discrete
random variable or to each interval of values of a continuous random variable. The key components of the
probability distribution is that it has a probability assigned to each distinct value of the random variable
and the sum of all the assigned probabilities must be 1. The mean and standard deviation of a discrete
population probability distribution are found by using certain formulas included below. Mu is called the
expected value(mean) of x. Sigma is called standard deviation of x where x is the value of a random
variable.
Much different from a probability distribution is a binomial experiment. A binomial experiment is
one that had a defined number of trials and two outcomes. This type of experiment calls for 5
requirements: only 2 outcomes, fixed number of trials, independent n trials, probability of success is
same, and find probability of r successes out of n trials. Each and every binomial experiment consists
of 4 variables that make up the equations: p,q,r, and n. The variable p represents the probability of
success within the experiment. The complement of p is q, which represents the probability of failure.
Next, the variable r represents the number of successes for the experiment. Last, n represents the
number of trials. For a binomial experiment there are 5 requirements and 4 variables.
There are three different methods for computing binomial probabilities: formula, calculator, and
table. The formula for finding the binomial probability distribution is included below. The p = probability of
success, q = 1 - p = probability of failure, and r = number of successes out of n trials. To find the binomial
probability on the calculator you use binompdf when there are exactly r successes and binomcdf when
there are up to r successes. The third method for finding binomial probabilities is to use a table. To use
the table, you find the appropriate section for n and then use the values in the columns p and the values
in the rows r.
For a binomial distribution, there are 2 values that can be found: mean and standard deviation.
The mean, also known as expected value, is the average of all the data values provided. One way to find
this value is the with the equation = np . This formula means that, in order to find the mean, the number
of trials and probability of success must be multiplied together. Along with the mean, standard deviation is
also a value that can be calculated. The standard of deviation measures the spread of a data. A formula
that can be used to find this number is = npq . To simplify this equation, it is saying to multiply together
the number of trials, probability of success, and probability of failure, then take the square root. Because
the standard deviation measures the spread there is another factor that plays a role. This is called the :
unusual value. The unusual value means that it is unusual for a data points to fall within 75% of the data.
Two values that can be found for a binomial equation are mean and standard deviation.

 PowerballLotteryProblem

a) The probability of not winning any prize is .9715. We found this by taking the overall
chance of winning and subtracting it from 1. We found the expected winnings if you
bought one ticket and lost by plugging the data set into L1 and L2. We then went to 1
VAR-STATS and received the data value 0.23. This is the expected winnings ($0.23). To
find the amount that you are contributing to the government when purchasing the ticket,
you take the cost of the ticket ($1.00) and subtract your expected winnings ($0.23). This
leaves the government with $0.77 of your money.
b) If you buy one ticket, and the jackpot was increased to 25 million, your expected
winnings would be $0.30. We found this by using formula 1. We multiplied each prize by
the probability of winning it, and then added each value together. The probability of
winning the jackpot does not change even though the amount changed.
c) When using the random number table, my partner and I retrieved the numbers for ten
tickets. The past winning powerball numbers where 6 13 16 17 52 25. My partner and I
did not receive one of theses numbers out of our ten trials. This means that we lost.
d) The probability of winning at least one prize once .135. We found this by using the
binomial distribution process on the calculator. My partner and I used the binompdf(
because we had an exact number of successes. The variables within this problem were:
n=5, p=0.0285, and r=0. We found the probability of not winning first and subtracted it
from 1 because it took less time. This gave us the probability of 0.135.


Formulas
Mean of Probability Distribution:

Binomial Probability Distribution:

Standard Deviation of Probability Distribution:

Mean of Binomial Distribution:

= np
Standard Deviation of Binomial Distribution:

= npq