ABSTRACT

A probability distribution is a frequency distribution that shows all of the individual values within a population. There are two general types of probability distributions, discrete and continuous. The basic probability distribution for discrete events is the hypergeometric distribution. The binomial probability distribution is most useful in describing the characteristics of populations where measurements fit an either/or mode. For example, a component may be acceptable or unacceptable, a tossed coin may be either a head or a tail, or some other marked distinction may differentiate between favorable and unfavorable events. The normal probability distribution is very important when all of the samples of the same size are taken from a population because of the central limit theorem. The normal probability distribution is very useful. Besides being valuable in describing data, primarily because of the properties described in the central limit theorem, it also underlies much of inferential statistics.