PublishedonSTAT414/415(https://onlinecourses.science.psu.

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Home>EffectofnandponShape

EffectofnandponShape
Otherthanbrieflylookingatthepictureofthehistogramatthetopofthecumulativebinomialprobabilitytableinthebackof
yourbook,wehaven'tspentmuchtimethinkingaboutwhatabinomialdistributionactuallylookslike.Well,let'sdothatnow!
Thebottomlinetakehomemessageisgoingtobethattheshapeofthebinomialdistributionisdirectlyrelated,andnot
surprisingly,totwothings:
1.n,thenumberofindependenttrials
2.p,theprobabilityofsuccess
Forsmallpandsmalln,thebinomialdistributioniswhatwecallskewedright.Thatis,thebulkoftheprobabilityfallsinthe
smallernumbers0,1,2,...,andthedistributiontailsofftotheright.Forexample,here'sapictureofthebinomialdistribution
whenn=15andp=0.2:

Forlargepandsmalln,thebinomialdistributioniswhatwecallskewedleft.Thatis,thebulkoftheprobabilityfallsinthe
largernumbersn,n1,
n2,...andthedistributiontailsofftotheleft.Forexample,here'sapictureofthebinomialdistributionwhenn=15andp=0.8:

Forp=0.5andlargeandsmalln,thebinomialdistributioniswhatwecallsymmetric.Thatis,thedistributioniswithoutskewness.
Forexample,here'sapictureofthebinomialdistributionwhenn=15andp=0.5:

Forsmallpandlargen,thebinomialdistributionapproachessymmetry.Forexample,ifp=0.2andnissmall,we'dexpectthe
binomialdistributiontobeskewedtotheright.Forlargen,however,thedistributionisnearlysymmetric.Forexample,here'sapicture
ofthebinomialdistributionwhenn=40andp=0.2:

Youmightfinditeducationaltoplayaroundyourselfwithvariousvaluesofthenandpparameterstoseetheireffectontheshapeofthe
binomialdistribution.

Interactivity
Inordertoparticipateinthisinteractivity,youwillneedtomakesurethatyouhavealreadydownloadedafreeversionofthe
Mathematicaplayer:

[1]
Onceyou'vedownloadedMathematica,youthenneedtodownloadthisdemo[2](byclickingonDownloadLiveVersion).Once,you've
downloadedandopenedthedemoinMathematica,youcanparticipateintheinteractivity:
1.First,usethesliders(ortheplussigns+)tosetn=5andp=0.2.Noticethatthebinomialdistributionisskewedtothe
right.
2.Then,asyoumovethesamplesizeslidertotherightinordertoincreasen,noticethatthedistributionmovesfrom
beingskewedtotherighttoapproachingsymmetry.
3.Now,setp=0.5.Then,asyoumovethesamplesizesliderineitherdirection,noticethatregardlessofthevalueofn,
thebinomialdistributionissymmetric.
4.Then,dowhateveryouwantwiththeslidersuntilyouthingyoufullyunderstandtheeffectofnandpontheshapeof

thebinomialdistribution.
SourceURL:https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat414/node/70
Links:
[1]http://www.wolfram.com/products/player/download.cgi
[2]http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/BinomialProbabilityDistribution/