Marginal Probability Distribution

report by: Al-jame Kalim BSCE 2

5.1.2 Marginal Probability Distribution

what is marginal probability distribution?

• Marginal distribution are probabilities of an individual event from an
experiment that occurs regardless of the outcomes from the other
experiments.
• A marginal distribution gets it’s name because it appears in the margins
of a probability distribution table.
5.1.2 Marginal Probability Distribution

what is marginal probability distribution?

• The total Probability must be 1.00
• The technical definition can be a little mind-numbing to look at:
• Marginal distribution = If X and Y are discrete random variables and
f (x,y) is the value of their joint probability distribution at (x,y), the
functions given by:
g(x) = Σy f (x,y) and h(y) = Σx f(x,y) are the marginal distributions of X
and Y , respectively. (Σ = summation notation)
How to Calculate Marginal Distribution Probability

Example question: Calculate the marginal distribution of pet preference among men and
women:
Solution:
Step 1: Count the total number of people. In this case the total is given in the right hand
column (22 people).
Step 2: Count the number of people who prefer each pet type and then turn the ratio into a
probability:
People who prefer cats: 7/22 = .32
People who prefer fish: 7/22 = .32
People who prefer dogs: 8/22 = .36
How to Calculate Marginal Distribution Probability

• we can check your answer by making sure the probabilities all add up to 1.
Calculate Marginal Distribution Probability

• Example question 2 (Mutually Exclusive Events): If P(A) = 0.20, P(b) = 0.70, and
both events are mutually exclusive, find P(B’∩A), P(B’∩A’) and P(B∩A’).
• If you’re unfamiliar with this notation, P(A’) means “not A”, or the complement.
P(B’∩A) means “intersection of not B and A”).
• Step 1: Fill in a frequency table with the given information. The total probability
must equal 1, so you can add that to the margins(totals) as well. Simple
addition/algebra fills in the marginal blanks. For example, on the bottom row
0.70 + x = 1.00 so The marginal total for B’ must be 0.30.
Calculate Marginal Distribution Probability

• Example question 2
• Step 2: Add 0 for the intersection of A and B, at the top left of the table. You can
do that because A and B are mutually exclusive and cannot happen together.

• Step 3: Fill in the rest of the blanks using simple addition/algebra.

Calculate Marginal Distribution Probability

• Example question 2

• Therefore;

• P(B’∩A) = 0.20
• P(B’∩A’) = 0.10
• P(B∩A’) = 0.70.
Calculate Marginal Distribution Probability

• Example question 3 (Independent Events): If P(A) = 0.20, P(b) = 0.70, and both
events are independent, find P(B’∩A), P(B’∩A’) and P(B∩A’).
• Answer: This time, A and B are independent, so the probability of them both happening
at the same time is 0.14 (P(A)*P(B) = 0.20 * 0.70 = 0.14). This value goes into the top left
(intersection of A and B). Fill out the rest of the table exactly the same way as in the
previous steps.

• Therefore
P(B’∩A): 0.06
P(B’∩A’): 0.24
P(B∩A’): 0.56