Module 5: Probability Flashcards
Random trial
-any process that has multiple outcomes but where the result on any particular trial is unknown (flipping a coin)
Sample space
-list, or set, of all possible outcomes
Event
-outcome you are interested in, can just be a single element in the sample space
Discrete variables
-flipping a coin
Continuous variables
-length of time a person waits
Probability
-proportion of times an event would occur if a random trial was repeated many many times
Probability distributions
-utilize the structure of a random trial to provide a compact way of describing the probability of all events
Types of distributions
-discrete
-continuous
Discrete distribution
-for discrete random variables (number of times children ask for icecream on a hot day)
Continuous distribution
-for continuous random variables (mass of an ice cream cone in grams)
Probabilities from a distribution
-how to calculate the probability of an outcome given an event range
Ranges from a distribution
-uses probability distributions to find the event range that is consistent with a given probability
Standard normal distribution
-mean of the standard normal distribution is zero
-the standard deviation of the standard normal distribution is one
-the x-axis is called the z-score, which is a scale that measures the number of of standard deviations from the mean
Converting to standard normal distribution
-subtract the mean
-divide by the standard deviation