Statistics for

Business and Economics (14e)

Metric Version

Anderson, Sweeney, Williams, Camm, Cochran, Fry, Ohlmann

© 2020 Cengage Learning

© 2020 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on
a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Chapter 6 - Continuous Probability
Distributions (連續機率分配)
6.1 – Uniform Probability Distribution
6.2 – Normal Probability Distribution
6.3 – Normal Approximation of Binomial Probabilities
6.4 – Exponential Probability Distribution

© 2020 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on
a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Continuous Probability
Distributions (1 of 2)

• A continuous random variable (連續隨機變數) can

assume any value in an interval on the real line or
in a collection of intervals.
• It is not possible to talk about the probability of the
random variable assuming a particular value.
• Instead, we talk about the probability of the
random variable assuming a value within a given
interval.

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 Continuous Probability
Distributions (2 of 2)

The probability of the random variable assuming a value

within some given interval (區間) from x1 to x2 is defined to be
the area under the graph of the probability density function
between x1 and x2.

x2
P( x1 ≤ x ≤ x2 )
= ∫ x1
f ( x)dx and ∫ f ( x)dx 1
=
© 2020 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on
a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Uniform Probability Distribution
(齊一分配) (1 of 5)

• A random variable is uniformly distributed whenever the

probability is proportional to the interval’s length.
• The uniform probability density function is:

where: a = smallest value the variable can assume

b = largest value the variable can assume

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a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Uniform Probability Distribution
5)
(2 of

• The expected value of x is E(x) = (a + b)/2.

• The variance of x is Var(x) = (b – a)2/12.

© 2020 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on
a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Uniform Probability Distribution
5)
(3 of

Example: Slater's Buffet

Slater’s customers are charged for the amount of salad they
take. Sampling suggests that the amount of salad taken is
uniformly distributed between 5 ounces and 15 ounces.
The uniform probability density function is

where:
x = salad plate filling weight

© 2020 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on
a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Uniform Probability Distribution
5)
(4 of

What is the probability that a customer will take between 12 and 15 ounces of
salad?

© 2020 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on
a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Uniform Probability Distribution
5)
(5 of

• The expected value of x is E(x) = (a + b)/2

= (5 + 15)/2
= 10

• The variance of x is Var(x) = (b – a)2/12

= (15 – 5)2/12
= 8.33

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Area as a Measure of Probability
• The area (面積) under the graph of f(x) and
probability are identical.
• This is valid for all continuous random variables.
• The probability that x takes on a value between
some lower value x1 and some higher value x2 can
be found by computing the area under the graph of
f(x) over the interval from x1 to x2.

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