Probability and Normal Distribution

Vocabulary flashcards on probability and normal distribution concepts.

Probability

The measure of the chance of a given event occurring.

Subjective Definition of Probability

Expresses one’s degree of belief in the certainty or uncertainty of occurrence of events; assessment based on personal experience.

Classical Definition of Probability

Examines the situation in which there are possible outcomes favorable on an event and possible outcomes unfavorable to the event.

Relative Frequency Definition of Probability

The probability of an event happening in the long run is determined by observing what fraction of the time like events happened in the past.

Experiment

The process of data collection.

Trial

A particular act of any experiment.

Outcome

The result of a particular trial.

Event

A particular outcome of an experiment defined by a given rule.

Venn Diagrams

A pictorial method used to show the relationship between different sets or groups of objects.

Mutually Exclusive Events

Two or more events where the occurrence of any one of them precludes the occurrence of all the others.

Independent Events

Two or more events where the occurrence or non-occurrence of one event does not affect the occurrence or non-occurrence of the other.

Dependent Events

Two or more events when the probability of the second event is conditional upon the first event having taken place.

Conditional Probability

The probability of occurrence of an event given that another event has occurred.

Contingency Tables

Tables created by taking the given probabilities, multiplying by some convenient numbers, and drawing a table to show the various combinations of factors which may exist.

Probability Trees

A diagram that sets out all the possibilities of breaking down complex problems.

Probability Distribution

A distribution that shows the probabilities of all possible values of the random variable.

Random Variable

A quantity that can take one of a set of mutually exclusive values with a given probability.

Discrete Probability Distribution

Probability distribution in which we can derive probabilities corresponding to every possible value of the random variable.

Binomial Distribution

Shows the probability of every possible number of successes in an experiment in which there are only two possible outcomes to a trial.

Geometric Distribution

Describes the number of trials up to the first success.

Poisson Distribution

The probability distribution of the number of events which occur randomly and independently in time or space at some average rate.

Hypergeometric Distribution

This is very similar to the binomial distribution except that the trials are not independent.

Multinomial Distribution

Almost identical with binomial distribution except that it has more than two outcomes

Negative Binomial Distribution

Almost the same as binomial distribution except that the number of trials is not fixed.

Continuous Probability Distribution

The probability distribution in which we can only derive probability of the random variable, x, taking values in certain ranges.

Standard Normal Distribution

A normal distribution with mean zero and variance one.