Lecture 5:

Binomial Distribution
An example:
How many possible sex distributions among three children?

-What is the probability for each distribution?

-What is the probability that all of them are girls?

-What is the probability that all of them have the same gender?

-What is the probability of one girl and two boys?

-What is the probability of at least one girl?
Pascals Triangle & Binomial Coefficients
The numbers in the n
th
row are the coefficients of the terms in the
expansions of the polynominal (p+q)
n

-Coefficient: is the number of possible arrangements of a particular
distribution.
Binomial Experiment
A binomial experiment is an experiment which satisfies these four
conditions

A fixed number of trials

Each trial is independent of the others

There are two outcomes for each trial and they are mutual
exclusive

The probability of each outcome remains constant from trial
to trial.
n!
x! y!
p
x
q
y

Coefficient =
number of all
possible
combination
of that
particular
distribution
Binomial distribution:
If the probability of event A is p and the probability of the alternative
event B is q, the probability that, in n trials, event A is realized x
times and event B is realized y times is:
x + y = n
p + q = 1
n! = 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x..x (n-1) x n
Another example:
In a family with 8 children, what is the probability of having 5 boys
and 3 girls?