Statistics & Data Science, Mathematics
High School (9–10)
High School (11–12)
Undergraduate
General
Statistics Basics › Random Variables and DistributionsStatistics Basics › Probability and ChanceStatistics Basics › Spread of DataChapter 4Random Variables and Distributions
How many brothers and sisters does a student picked at random have?
- How many seeds in a packet will grow?
- How tall is the next person through the door?
- Each answer is a number that changes by chance, and each follows a pattern that we can describe.
- This chapter turns chance into numbers.
- You will build a probability distribution, find its long-run mean and its spread, count successes with the binomial model, and work with the bell-shaped normal curve and its areas.
- Every idea is met first in a made-up data set or a simulation, and short Python programs check each result.
Part of Statistics & Data Science · Essentials (chapter 4)
Following adds this path to your dashboard and enrolls you in the 3 courses you can open, so you can start right away.
Courses in This Path (3)
1.Not started2.
Random Variables and Expected Value
Pick a student at random and ask how many brothers and sisters they have. The answer is a number, and it changes from student to student. Learn to write down the chances of every value, to find the long-run mean that a simulation settles at, and to measure how far the values spread around it. It suits a curious secondary-school student and any adult who wants the ideas behind the formulas.
Counting Successes: The Binomial Model
Plant ten seeds that each grow with the same chance. How many will come up? Learn when a count of successes follows the binomial model, how to find the chance of each count, and where the counts centre and how widely they spread. A simulation of thousands of packets shows the formula at work. It suits a curious secondary-school student and any adult who wants the ideas behind the formulas.