ABSTRACT
Decisions................................................................................................................255 Just What Is a Distribution? ..................................................................................255 Distributions — How to Approach Them.............................................................260 Symmetrical Distributions .....................................................................................261 Skewed Distributions .............................................................................................262 Spiked Distributions ..............................................................................................263 Flat Distributions ...................................................................................................265 Truncated Distributions .........................................................................................266 Discrete Distributions ............................................................................................266 Bimodal Distributions............................................................................................268 Reading Data from a File......................................................................................270 Peakedness .............................................................................................................271 Specific Distribution Types ...................................................................................273
The only time decisions have to be made is when something about a situation is unknown. Consider the scenario in which your spouse asks you to go to the store. You leave the house and arrive at the proverbial fork in the road. You look down the right fork and see no store; you look down the left fork and see the store. In this case, I submit, there is no decision to be made — the store is on the left fork and that is where you will go. However, if you reach the fork in the road and do not see a store down either fork, then a decision must be made. Even if you decide to stay where you are or to go back home, a decision still has to be made as to what to do. A decision must be made because something is unknown and there is uncertainty about something related to the problem.
