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Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Sampling and Data
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 Definitions of Statistics, Probability, and Key Terms
    3. 1.2 Data, Sampling, and Variation in Data and Sampling
    4. 1.3 Levels of Measurement
    5. 1.4 Experimental Design and Ethics
    6. Key Terms
    7. Chapter Review
    8. Homework
    9. References
    10. Solutions
  3. 2 Descriptive Statistics
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1 Display Data
    3. 2.2 Measures of the Location of the Data
    4. 2.3 Measures of the Center of the Data
    5. 2.4 Sigma Notation and Calculating the Arithmetic Mean
    6. 2.5 Geometric Mean
    7. 2.6 Skewness and the Mean, Median, and Mode
    8. 2.7 Measures of the Spread of the Data
    9. Key Terms
    10. Chapter Review
    11. Formula Review
    12. Practice
    13. Homework
    14. Bringing It Together: Homework
    15. References
    16. Solutions
  4. 3 Probability Topics
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1 Terminology
    3. 3.2 Independent and Mutually Exclusive Events
    4. 3.3 Two Basic Rules of Probability
    5. 3.4 Contingency Tables and Probability Trees
    6. 3.5 Venn Diagrams
    7. Key Terms
    8. Chapter Review
    9. Formula Review
    10. Practice
    11. Bringing It Together: Practice
    12. Homework
    13. Bringing It Together: Homework
    14. References
    15. Solutions
  5. 4 Discrete Random Variables
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1 Hypergeometric Distribution
    3. 4.2 Binomial Distribution
    4. 4.3 Geometric Distribution
    5. 4.4 Poisson Distribution
    6. Key Terms
    7. Chapter Review
    8. Formula Review
    9. Practice
    10. Homework
    11. References
    12. Solutions
  6. 5 Continuous Random Variables
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1 Properties of Continuous Probability Density Functions
    3. 5.2 The Uniform Distribution
    4. 5.3 The Exponential Distribution
    5. Key Terms
    6. Chapter Review
    7. Formula Review
    8. Practice
    9. Homework
    10. References
    11. Solutions
  7. 6 The Normal Distribution
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1 The Standard Normal Distribution
    3. 6.2 Using the Normal Distribution
    4. 6.3 Estimating the Binomial with the Normal Distribution
    5. Key Terms
    6. Chapter Review
    7. Formula Review
    8. Practice
    9. Homework
    10. References
    11. Solutions
  8. 7 The Central Limit Theorem
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1 The Central Limit Theorem for Sample Means
    3. 7.2 Using the Central Limit Theorem
    4. 7.3 The Central Limit Theorem for Proportions
    5. 7.4 Finite Population Correction Factor
    6. Key Terms
    7. Chapter Review
    8. Formula Review
    9. Practice
    10. Homework
    11. References
    12. Solutions
  9. 8 Confidence Intervals
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1 A Confidence Interval for a Population Standard Deviation, Known or Large Sample Size
    3. 8.2 A Confidence Interval for a Population Standard Deviation Unknown, Small Sample Case
    4. 8.3 A Confidence Interval for A Population Proportion
    5. 8.4 Calculating the Sample Size n: Continuous and Binary Random Variables
    6. Key Terms
    7. Chapter Review
    8. Formula Review
    9. Practice
    10. Homework
    11. References
    12. Solutions
  10. 9 Hypothesis Testing with One Sample
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1 Null and Alternative Hypotheses
    3. 9.2 Outcomes and the Type I and Type II Errors
    4. 9.3 Distribution Needed for Hypothesis Testing
    5. 9.4 Full Hypothesis Test Examples
    6. Key Terms
    7. Chapter Review
    8. Formula Review
    9. Practice
    10. Homework
    11. References
    12. Solutions
  11. 10 Hypothesis Testing with Two Samples
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1 Comparing Two Independent Population Means
    3. 10.2 Cohen's Standards for Small, Medium, and Large Effect Sizes
    4. 10.3 Test for Differences in Means: Assuming Equal Population Variances
    5. 10.4 Comparing Two Independent Population Proportions
    6. 10.5 Two Population Means with Known Standard Deviations
    7. 10.6 Matched or Paired Samples
    8. Key Terms
    9. Chapter Review
    10. Formula Review
    11. Practice
    12. Homework
    13. Bringing It Together: Homework
    14. References
    15. Solutions
  12. 11 The Chi-Square Distribution
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1 Facts About the Chi-Square Distribution
    3. 11.2 Test of a Single Variance
    4. 11.3 Goodness-of-Fit Test
    5. 11.4 Test of Independence
    6. 11.5 Test for Homogeneity
    7. 11.6 Comparison of the Chi-Square Tests
    8. Key Terms
    9. Chapter Review
    10. Formula Review
    11. Practice
    12. Homework
    13. Bringing It Together: Homework
    14. References
    15. Solutions
  13. 12 F Distribution and One-Way ANOVA
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1 Test of Two Variances
    3. 12.2 One-Way ANOVA
    4. 12.3 The F Distribution and the F-Ratio
    5. 12.4 Facts About the F Distribution
    6. Key Terms
    7. Chapter Review
    8. Formula Review
    9. Practice
    10. Homework
    11. References
    12. Solutions
  14. 13 Linear Regression and Correlation
    1. Introduction
    2. 13.1 The Correlation Coefficient r
    3. 13.2 Testing the Significance of the Correlation Coefficient
    4. 13.3 Linear Equations
    5. 13.4 The Regression Equation
    6. 13.5 Interpretation of Regression Coefficients: Elasticity and Logarithmic Transformation
    7. 13.6 Predicting with a Regression Equation
    8. 13.7 How to Use Microsoft Excel® for Regression Analysis
    9. Key Terms
    10. Chapter Review
    11. Practice
    12. Solutions
  15. A | Statistical Tables
  16. B | Mathematical Phrases, Symbols, and Formulas
  17. Index

Probability is a measure that is associated with how certain we are of outcomes of a particular experiment or activity. An experiment is a planned operation carried out under controlled conditions. If the result is not predetermined, then the experiment is said to be a chance experiment. Flipping one fair coin twice is an example of an experiment.

A result of an experiment is called an outcome. The sample space of an experiment is the set of all possible outcomes. Three ways to represent a sample space are: to list the possible outcomes, to create a tree diagram, or to create a Venn diagram. The uppercase letter S is used to denote the sample space. For example, if you flip one fair coin, S = {H, T} where H = heads and T = tails are the outcomes.

An event is any combination of outcomes. Upper case letters like A and B represent events. For example, if the experiment is to flip one fair coin, event A might be getting at most one head. The probability of an event A is written P(A).

The probability of any outcome is the long-term relative frequency of that outcome. Probabilities are between zero and one, inclusive (that is, zero and one and all numbers between these values). P(A) = 0 means the event A can never happen. P(A) = 1 means the event A always happens. P(A) = 0.5 means the event A is equally likely to occur or not to occur. For example, if you flip one fair coin repeatedly (from 20 to 2,000 to 20,000 times) the relative frequency of heads approaches 0.5 (the probability of heads).

Equally likely means that each outcome of an experiment occurs with equal probability. For example, if you toss a fair, six-sided die, each face (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6) is as likely to occur as any other face. If you toss a fair coin, a Head (H) and a Tail (T) are equally likely to occur. If you randomly guess the answer to a true/false question on an exam, you are equally likely to select a correct answer or an incorrect answer.

To calculate the probability of an event A when all outcomes in the sample space are equally likely, count the number of outcomes for event A and divide by the total number of outcomes in the sample space. For example, if you toss a fair dime and a fair nickel, the sample space is {HH, TH, HT, TT} where T = tails and H = heads. The sample space has four outcomes. A = getting one head. There are two outcomes that meet this condition {HT, TH}, so P(A) = 2 4 2 4 = 0.5.

Suppose you roll one fair six-sided die, with the numbers {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} on its faces. Let event E = rolling a number that is at least five. There are two outcomes {5, 6}. P(E) = 2 6 2 6 . If you were to roll the die only a few times, you would not be surprised if your observed results did not match the probability. If you were to roll the die a very large number of times, you would expect that, overall, 2626 of the rolls would result in an outcome of "at least five". You would not expect exactly 2626. The long-term relative frequency of obtaining this result would approach the theoretical probability of 2626 as the number of repetitions grows larger and larger.

This important characteristic of probability experiments is known as the law of large numbers which states that as the number of repetitions of an experiment is increased, the relative frequency obtained in the experiment tends to become closer and closer to the theoretical probability. Even though the outcomes do not happen according to any set pattern or order, overall, the long-term observed relative frequency will approach the theoretical probability. (The word empirical is often used instead of the word observed.)

It is important to realize that in many situations, the outcomes are not equally likely. A coin or die may be unfair, or biased. Two math professors in Europe had their statistics students test the Belgian one Euro coin and discovered that in 250 trials, a head was obtained 56% of the time and a tail was obtained 44% of the time. The data seem to show that the coin is not a fair coin; more repetitions would be helpful to draw a more accurate conclusion about such bias. Some dice may be biased. Look at the dice in a game you have at home; the spots on each face are usually small holes carved out and then painted to make the spots visible. Your dice may or may not be biased; it is possible that the outcomes may be affected by the slight weight differences due to the different numbers of holes in the faces. Gambling casinos make a lot of money depending on outcomes from rolling dice, so casino dice are made differently to eliminate bias. Casino dice have flat faces; the holes are completely filled with paint having the same density as the material that the dice are made out of so that each face is equally likely to occur. Later we will learn techniques to use to work with probabilities for events that are not equally likely.

"∪∪" Event: The UnionAn outcome is in the event A ∪∪ B if the outcome is in A or is in B or is in both A and B. For example, let A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and B = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8}. A ∪∪ B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}. Notice that 4 and 5 are NOT listed twice.

"∩∩" Event: The IntersectionAn outcome is in the event A ∩∩ B if the outcome is in both A and B at the same time. For example, let A and B be {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and {4, 5, 6, 7, 8}, respectively. Then A ∩∩ B = {4, 5}.

The complement of event A is denoted A′ (read "A prime"). A′ consists of all outcomes that are NOT in A. Notice that P(A) + P(A′) = 1. For example, let S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} and let A = {1, 2, 3, 4}. Then, A′ = {5, 6}. P(A) = 4646, P(A′) = 2626, and P(A) + P(A′) = 4 6 + 2 6 4 6 + 2 6 = 1

The conditional probability of A given B is written P(A||B). P(A||B) is the probability that event A will occur given that the event B has already occurred. A conditional reduces the sample space. We calculate the probability of A from the reduced sample space B. The formula to calculate P(A||B) is P(A||B) = P(A∩B) P(B) P(A∩B) P(B) where P(B) is greater than zero.

For example, suppose we toss one fair, six-sided die. The sample space S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. Let A = face is 2 or 3 and B = face is even (2, 4, 6). To calculate P(A||B), we count the number of outcomes 2 or 3 in the sample space B = {2, 4, 6}. Then we divide that by the number of outcomes B (rather than S).

We get the same result by using the formula. Remember that S has six outcomes.

P(A||B) = P(A∩B) P(B) = (the number of outcomes that are 2 or 3 and even in S) 6 (the number of outcomes that are even in S) 6 = 1 6 3 6 = 1 3 P(A∩B) P(B) = (the number of outcomes that are 2 or 3 and even in S) 6 (the number of outcomes that are even in S) 6 = 1 6 3 6 = 1 3

OddsThe odds of an event presents the probability as a ratio of success to failure. This is common in various gambling formats. Mathematically, the odds of an event can be defined as:

P(A) 1−P(A) P(A) 1−P(A)

where P(A) is the probability of success and of course 1 − P(A) is the probability of failure. Odds are always quoted as "numerator to denominator," e.g. 2 to 1. Here the probability of winning is twice that of losing; thus, the probability of winning is 0.66. A probability of winning of 0.60 would generate odds in favor of winning of 3 to 2. While the calculation of odds can be useful in gambling venues in determining payoff amounts, it is not helpful for understanding probability or statistical theory.

Understanding Terminology and SymbolsIt is important to read each problem carefully to think about and understand what the events are. Understanding the wording is the first very important step in solving probability problems. Reread the problem several times if necessary. Clearly identify the event of interest. Determine whether there is a condition stated in the wording that would indicate that the probability is conditional; carefully identify the condition, if any.

Example 3.1

Problem

The sample space S is the whole numbers starting at one and less than 20.

  1. S = _____________________________

    Let event A = the even numbers and event B = numbers greater than 13.

  2. A = _____________________, B = _____________________
  3. P(A) = _____________, P(B) = ________________
  4. A ∩∩ B = ____________________, A OR B = ________________
  5. P(A ∩∩ B) = _________, P(A ∪∪ B) = _____________
  6. A′ = _____________, P(A′) = _____________
  7. P(A) + P(A′) = ____________
  8. P(A||B) = ___________, P(B||A) = _____________; are the probabilities equal?

Try It 3.1

The sample space S is all the ordered pairs of two whole numbers, the first from one to three and the second from one to four (Example: (1, 4)).

  1. S = _____________________________

    Let event A = the sum is even and event B = the first number is prime.
  2. A = _____________________, B = _____________________
  3. P(A) = _____________, P(B) = ________________
  4. A ∩∩ B = ____________________, A ∪∪ B = ________________
  5. P(A ∩∩ B) = _________, P(A ∪∪ B) = _____________
  6. B′ = _____________, P(B′) = _____________
  7. P(A) + P(A′) = ____________
  8. P(A||B) = ___________, P(B||A) = _____________; are the probabilities equal?

Example 3.2

Problem

A fair, six-sided die is rolled. Describe the sample space S, identify each of the following events with a subset of S and compute its probability (an outcome is the number of dots that show up).

  1. Event T = the outcome is two.
  2. Event A = the outcome is an even number.
  3. Event B = the outcome is less than four.
  4. The complement of A.
  5. A || B
  6. B || A
  7. A ∩∩ B
  8. A ∪∪ B
  9. A ∪∪ B′
  10. Event N = the outcome is a prime number.
  11. Event I = the outcome is seven.

Example 3.3

Table 3.1 describes the distribution of a random sample S of 100 individuals, organized by gender and whether they are right- or left-handed.

Right-handed Left-handed
Males 43 9
Females 44 4
Table 3.1

Problem

Let’s denote the events M = the subject is male, F = the subject is female, R = the subject is right-handed, L = the subject is left-handed. Compute the following probabilities:

  1. P(M)
  2. P(F)
  3. P(R)
  4. P(L)
  5. P(M ∩∩ R)
  6. P(F ∩∩ L)
  7. P(M ∪∪ F)
  8. P(M ∪∪ R)
  9. P(F ∪∪ L)
  10. P(M')
  11. P(R||M)
  12. P(F||L)
  13. P(L||F)
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