Unit 5 - Activity 2 - Binomial Distribution Worksheet

Binomial distributions occur when an experiment is repeated and a particular outcome (success
and failure) is counted. Experiments that are repeated are called Bernoulli Trials.

However, there are certain conditions for a Bernoulli Trial to occur:

 Only two outcomes are possible (Success and failure)

 The outcome of each trial does not depend on the previous trial
 The probability for success and failure does not change for each trial
 Trials are repeated a specified number of times

An example of when binomial distributions can be used is when the number of defects is
counted during quality control.

The formula for binomial distributions:

n!
P ( x) = p x qn− x
( n−x ) ! x !

Or

P ( x ) =❑n C x p x q n−x

x = number of single successes p = Probability of successful outcome

n = number of Bernoulli Trials q = Probability of single failure

Also, the sum of the probability of successes and failures always equals one; therefore p+q=1

The formula for the expectations for a binomial distribution is:

E ( x )=np

Example 1 When flipping a coin 6 times, what is the probability of getting 4 heads?

You could make a tree diagram to figure this out but the tree would be difficult to construct.
Though if you were to make it, you would see that there are 64 possible outcomes of flipping a
coin 6 times and 15 of them give you the event of flipping 4 heads. From which you can find
that the probability of flipping 4 heads in 6 flips of a coin is: 15/64

The more efficient way to solve this problem is to use the formula:

P ( x ) =❑n C x p x q n−x
Indirect Method:

Example 2 What is the probability of tossing at least two sixes in 6 rolls of a die?

Because the question includes the phrase “at least”, it would be highly advisable to use the
indirect method.

Example 3 For example 2, what would the expectations be for the binomial distribution?