ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces several discrete distributions that will be useful at various points. The distribution of the number of failures before the first success generalizes to what has come to be known as the negative binomial distribution. The hypergeometric distribution is used in the field of statistical quality con where products are constantly checked to see if they meet specifications laid down by the manufacturer. Bernoulli distribution is based on the idea of conducting an experiment consisting of several independent trials in such a way that each trial has exactly two possible outcomes. These outcomes are usually referred to as "success" or "failure" example a research effort that is designed to study the prevalence of coronary heart disease in a group of unrelated adults may recruit participants at a construction site. Various methods have become commonplace in clinical decision making when uncertainty exists between clinical information on the patient and the presence of disease.
