Biology 2244A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Random Variable

• School: Western University
• Department: Biology
• Course: Biology 2244A/B
• Professor: Jennifer Waugh

Document Summary

The distribution of a count depends on how the data are produced. The distribution of x (discrete random variable) = binominal distribution: discrete random variable = a random variable that has a countable (finite) list of possible outcomes. Binomial distributions are important when we want to make inferences about the proportions p of. When the population is much larger than the sample, a count of success in an srs of sized n has approximately the proportion of successes in the population. Technically, an srs involves sampling with replacement, which means that even if your sample is taken from a small population, you are not changing the probability of success with each trial/unit. As well, the srs ensures independence among trials as well because, even if there is some kind of dependence, replacing each trial/unit after counting means any unit could then be chosen next.