Discrete Distributions

Discrete versus continuous distributions

Random variable: is a variable that contains the outcomes of a chance experiment.
- The two categories of random variables are:
(1) discrete random variables
(2) continuous random variables

Discrete random variable: when the set of all possible values is a finite or, at most, countably infinite
number of possible values.
- In most statistical situations, discrete random variables produce values that are non-negative
whole numbers
- It can be said that discrete random variables are usually generated from experiments in which
things are ‘counted’, not ‘measured’

Continuous random variables: values at every point over a given interval.

- They no gaps or unassumed values
- They are generated from experiments in which things are ‘measured’, not ‘counted’
- Once continuous data are measured and recorded, they become discrete data because they are
rounded to a discrete number.

The outcomes for random variables and their associated probabilities can be organised into two types of
distributions: discrete distributions and continuous distributions.

Mean, variance and standard deviation of discrete distributions

Measures of central tendency and measures of variability can be applied to discrete distributions to
compute a mean, a variance and a standard deviation.
- Each of these three descriptive measures is computed for group data by using class midpoints to
represent data in class intervals
- However, for discrete distributions it is not necessary to use class midpoints because each
outcome is represented by its discrete value

Mean or expected value

Mean or expected value of a discrete distribution: the long-run average of occurrences.

Variance and standard deviation of a discrete distribution

Variance and standard deviation of a discrete distribution: solved by using the outcomes (x) and
probabilities of outcomes [P(x)] in a manner similar to that of computing the mean.
- The computations for variance and standard deviation use the mean of the discrete distribution.

Standard deviation is computed by taking the square root of the variance.

Binomial Distribution
Binomial distribution: there are only two possible outcomes of a particular trial or experiment.

Assumptions about the binomial distribution

- The experiment involves n identical trials, where n is fixed before the trials are conducted.
- Each trial has only two possible outcomes, denoted success or failure
- The trials are independent.
- The probability of a success in any one trial remains constant throughout the experiment.
- Probability of success p.
- q = 1 − p is the probability of failure.
- If we let the random variable x denote the number of successes in n trials, x has a binomial
distribution with parameters n and p
- The binomial distribution is a discrete distribution.
Using the binomial table
- Two parameters, n and p, describe or characterise a binomial distribution.
- Binomial distributions are actually a family of distributions.
- Every different value of n gives a different binomial distribution, as does every different value of p,
and tables are available for various combinations of n and p values.

Mean and standard deviation of binomial

Mean
Mean of a binomial: A binomial distribution has an expected value or a long-run average, which is denoted
by 𝜇
- The long-run average or expected value means that, if n items are sampled many times and p is
the probability of a success in one trial, the average number of successes per sample is expected
to be np.
Standard Deviation
The mean value tells us only half of the story behind the data; to understand the complete story, the
spread and maximum likely spread of the data as described by the standard deviation are needed.
The standard deviation of a binomial distribution is denoted by the symbol 𝜎 and is equal to √ ❑

Graphing binomial distributions

The graph of a binomial distribution can be constructed by using all the possible x values of the
distribution and their associated probabilities.
- The x values usually are graphed along the x axis and the probabilities are graphed along the y
axis.
- In any binomial distribution, the largest x value that can occur is n and the smallest value is 0.
- Thus the graph of any binomial distribution is constrained by 0 and n.
- If the value of p is not 0.50, this constraint will result in the graph ‘bunching up’ at one end and
being skewed at the other end.

Poisson distribution
Poisson distribution: focuses only on the number of discrete occurrences over some interval or
continuum.
The Poisson distribution is named after Simeon-Denis Poisson (1781–1840), a French mathematician who
published its essentials in a paper in 1837.
- Does not have a given number of trials (n) like a binomial experiment does.
- Often used to describe the number of random arrivals in some time interval

Characteristics
- It is a discrete distribution
- Its possible values are whole numbers (e.g. 0, 1, 2).
- Each occurrence is independent of other occurrences.
- It describes occurrences over an interval.
- The number of occurrences in each interval can range from zero to infinity.
- The expected number of occurrences remains constant throughout the experiment

Examples
- the number of telephone calls per hour at a small business
- the number of customer arrivals at a cafe in an hour
- the number of arrivals under Sydney Harbour Bridge tollway gantries between 8.00 am and 9.00
am in January
- the number of paint spots per new vehicle the number of units of a product demanded per week
The Poisson distribution is characterised by lambda (𝜆), the mean number of occurrences in the
interval. We express this as “x has a Poisson distribution with parameter 𝜆.” If a Poisson-distributed
phenomenon is studied over a long period of time, 𝜆 is the long-run average of the process.

Solving Poisson problems by formula

Suppose cafe customers arrive randomly on weekdays at an average of 3.2 customers every 5 minutes. ´
What is the probability of exactly 5 customers arriving in a 5-minute interval on a weekday?
- x = number of customers arriving in a 5-minute interval on a weekday.
- The variable x can take values 0, 1, 2, 3
- Therefore, x is distributed as a Poisson distribution with a mean value of 3.2
- If a cafe averages 3.2 customers every 5 minutes, the probability of 5 customers arriving during any
one 5-minute interval is 0.1140

Mean and standard deviation of a Poisson distribution

Mean
The mean or expected value of a Poisson distribution is 𝜆.
- Lambda is usually not a whole number, so most of the time it is not possible to observe lambda
occurrences in an interval.

Standard deviation
The standard deviation of a Poisson distribution is the √ ❑.
- Thus, for a Poisson distribution, reducing the mean can also reduce the variability.

Example
If 𝜆 = 6.5, the standard deviation is 2.55.
1
Chebyshev’s theorem states at least 1− values are within k standard deviations of the mean.
k2

Poisson approximation of the binomial distribution

The intervals of a Poisson distribution can be subdivided into n very small subintervals; the probability of
λ
success in any subinterval is given by p = and this has an approximately binomial distribution.
n
- Binomial distributions with large number of trials n and small values of p, which then generate rare
events, are potential candidates for use of the Poisson distribution.
- As a rule of thumb, if n > 20 and np ≤ 7, the approximation is close enough to use the Poisson
distribution for binomial problems.
- If these conditions are met and the binomial distribution is a candidate for this process, the
procedure begins with computation of the mean of the binomial distribution, 𝜇= np
- The expected value of the binomial distribution approximates the expected value 𝜆 of the Poisson
distribution, allowing the approximation of binomial probabilities using probabilities from a Poisson
table or by using the Poisson formula