ABSTRACT
The binomial distribution deals with two numbers only, these being the probability that an event will happen, p, and the probability that an event will not happen, q. Thus, when a coin is tossed, if p is the probability of the coin landing with a head upwards, q is the probability of the coin landing with a tail upwards. p C q must always be equal to unity. A binomial distribution can be used for finding, say, the probability of getting three heads in seven tosses of the coin, or in industry for determining defect rates as a result of sampling. One way of defining a binomial distribution is as follows:
The binomial expansion of q C pn is:
qn C nqn1pC nn 1 2!
