AP Statistics

Study Sheet: Discrete Probability Distributions

Page 1 of 5

These exercises focus on discrete probability distributions and random variables. Youve
seen how to compute the probabilities associated with the outcomes of a discrete random
variable and how to create probability histograms to display these distributions.
In this activity, youll use your calculator to simulate probability questions of dice rolls and
candy sampling. Throughout this exercise, well give you directions on how to conduct the
various simulations, produce probability distributions, and create probability histograms.

1. Identify the following as discrete or continuous random variables:

A. Increase in the length of life attained by a cancer patient as a result of surgery
B. Tensile breaking strength (in pounds per square inch) of one-inch diameter steel
cable
C. Number of deer killed per year in a state wildlife preserve
D. Number of overdue accounts in a department store at a particular time
E. Your blood pressure

2. A random variable X has the following probability distribution:

X
P(x)

1
.087

2
?

3
.453

4
.234

5
.095

A. What is P(2)?
B. Construct a probability histogram of the distribution.

3. A pet shop has two job openings for dog groomers. Of the 10 applicants, 4 live in
Bellevue, 3 live in Seattle, and 3 live in Renton. All 10 are equally qualified for the
position. Let (x) equal the probability that the 2 who get the job both live in Bellevue.
A. Calculate P(x).
B. Create a probability histogram for this distribution.

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AP Sta
atistics
Study Sheet: Discrete Probabilit
P
ty Distrib
butions

Page 2 of 5

4. Use your
y
graphin
ng calculato
or to create a probabilit y simulation
n of rolling d
dice.
A. Roll
R two norm
mal dice (dic
ce with six faces)
f
a tota
al of 200 tim
mes. Let x e
equal the sum of
th
he two dice.. What is P(x
x)? In otherr words, com
mplete the ffollowing table:
Outco
ome

Theo
oretical
Prob
bability

E
Experimenta
al
Results

1/36
6 = .028

/200 =

2/36
6 = .056

/200 =

3/36
6 = .083

/200 =

4/36
6 = .111

/200 =

5/36
6 = .139

/200 =

6/36
6 = .167

/200 =

5/36
6 = .139

/200 =

4/36
6 = .111

/200 =

10
0

3/36
6 = .083

/200 =

11
1

2/36
6 = .056

/200 =

12
2

1/36
6 = .028

/200 =

To simulate 200
2
rolls of a pair of dic
ce on the TII-83 or TI-8
84, do the fo
ollowing:
1. Press MA
ATH, arrow to
t PRB and press 5 to g
get "randIntt(" on your h
homescreen
n.
0 0, ), STO , 2nd , L1 so
o that your screen now
w says
2. Press 1, ,, 6, ,, 2, 0,
"randInt((1,6,200) L1." Press ENTER
E
and this will place 2000 ran
ndom intege
ers
from 1 - 6 in L1.
andInt(1,6,2
200) L1". Change the
e L1 to L2 an
nd
3. Press 2nd , ENTER to retrieve "ra
press ENT
TER so thatt your screen now readss "randInt (1,6,200)L
L2". Press
ENTER. This
T
will plac
ce 200 random integerss from 1-6 in L2.
AT, ENTER. Put the sum
m of L1 and L2 in L3. M
Move the currsor on top of L3
4. Press STA
and press
s ENTER. With
W
the curs
sor blinking at the botto
om of the sc
creen, press
s 2nd ,
n
L1, +, 2nd
, L2. The command
c
line at the bo
ottom of the
e screen sho
ould now read

"L3 = L1 + L2." Pres

ss ENTER. This
T
will placce the sum o
of L1 and L2
2 into L3.
T PLOT 1 to draw a histogram of th
he data in L3
3. Set up ST
TAT PLOT 1 as
5. Use STAT
shown us
sing the give
en window:

6. Make surre that no otther STAT PLOTs are on

n and that a
all equations
s are empty
y or
turned offf. Now pres
ss GRAPH to
o see the hisstogram of y
your simulation. Use th
he
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AP Sta
atistics
Study Sheet: Discrete Probabilit
P
ty Distrib
butions

Page 3 of 5

TRACE ke
ey to find th
he height of each bar. T
The following is the histtogram we g
got
when we did the sim
mulation (since this is a random pro
ocess, your results shou
uld
differ som
mewhat from
m these) and shows tha
at, of the 20
00 trials, the
ere were 31
1 6's:

The heigh
ht of the bars will repre
esent the nu
umber of outcomes of e
each sum. T
These
values arre what you need to com
mplete the rrequired tab
ble.
B. Roll
R two mod
dified dice with
w
ten face
es for a tota
al of 300 tim
mes. Now lett x equal the
e
lo
ower value
e of the two dice. (If a 3 and 9 are rolled, the 3 is the low
wer value.) W
What
is
s P(x)? Thatt is, complette the follow
wing table:
Lower
L
Value
V

Frequency
F
(o
out of 300)

P(x)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

To simulate 300
3
rolls of a pair of mo
odified dice on your callculator, do the followin
ng:
1. Following
g the proced
dures in partt A, enter 30
00 random numbers fro
om 1-10 intto L1
(randInt((1,10,300) L1) and 30
00 into L2 ((randInt(1,1
10,300) L2
2).
of numbers. One labor-2. Now you need to tallly the lowerr number forr each pair o
intensive way to do this
t
is to sim
mply scroll d
down L1 and
d L2 and tallly the lowerr
number in each case
e. The proble
em is that tthere are 30
00 pairs and
d this might take
you several minutes.
e following program
p
in your
y
calcula tor (for com
mplete instru
uctions ente
ering
Enter the
programs
s, consult yo
our calculato
or manual)::

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ermsOfUse)
TI-83 scre
eens are used with
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the permission of the pu
ublisher. Copyrright 1996, Texas Instrum
ments, Incorporrated.

AP Sta
atistics
Study Sheet: Discrete Probabilit
P
ty Distrib
butions

Page 4 of 5

Run this program and, for each of the 300 pairs, the lo
ower of the two values will
be listed in L3. Now you only ne
eed to countt the numbe
er of 1's, 2's
s, 3's, and s
so
on. The easiest
e
way to do this is
s to draw a frequency h
histogram (a
as in part A))
and TRAC
CE to count the frequen
ncy of each value.

5. You have
h
a very large bag of
o candies th
hat the man
nufacturer claims has, o
on average, the
follow
wing composition:
10 red
5 green
5 brown
8 yellow
1 orange
1 blue
r
se
elect two candies from the
t
bag. You're interested in the ra
andom varia
able
You randomly
(X) fo
or the numb
ber of yellow
w candies ch
hosen from the bag. What is P(x)?

6. According to the
e manufacturer, a certain type of ca
andy is prod
duced, on average,
accorrding to the following distribution:
40% red
10% green
20% brown
20% yellow
5% orange
5% blue
a to create
e a sampling distributio
on for the pe
ercentage o
of red candie
es in sample
es of
You are
differrent sizes.
To do
o this, well consider random numb
bers from 1--10. Since 4
40% are red
d, well cons
sider
1, 2, 3, 4 to be red.

Generate 20 rand
dom numbe
ers from 1-1
10 on your T
TI-83/TI-84
using
g randInt(1,10,20)L1. Then,
T
sort L1 by pressin
ng STAT, 2,, 2nd , L1, ), ENTER. No
ow go
to the STAT EDIT screen an
nd simply co
ount how ma
any 1's, 2's,, 3's, and 4''s there are
n L1 until yo
ou find the la
ast 4) and tthat's how m
many red ca
andies you g
got in
(just scroll down
this sample
s
of size 20. For example,
e
wh
hen we did tthis once, w
we found 7 c
candies werre
red out
o of the sa
ample of size 20 (that is
s, there werre 7 numbers equal to 4 or less). A
secon
nd attempt turned up 6 red candie
es. Note thatt the theore
etical expectted value is
(.4)(20) = 8.
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ermsOfUse)
TI-83 scre
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w
the permission of the pu
ublisher. Copyrright 1996, Texas Instrum
ments, Incorporrated.

AP Statistics
Study Sheet: Discrete Probability Distributions
# red candies
(#1s, 2s, 3s, 4s)

Tally

Page 5 of 5

Frequency
(Tally/50)

0
1
2
3
4

18
19
20
Total 50

1.00

A. Repeat the simulation, described above, 50 times and identify the likely outcomes.
This may take you a few minutes to complete all 50 trials.

Acknowledgments
Question 1:
This question 4.77 (a, b, c, d, e) from page 165 of Introduction to Probability and Statistics, Tenth Edition, by
Mendenhall, R. Beaver, and B. Beaver. Copyright 1999 by Brooks Cole, division of Thompson Learning Inc.
Further reproduction is prohibited without permission of the publisher.

Copyright 2011 Apex Learning Inc. (See Terms of Use at www.apexvs.com/TermsOfUse)

TI-83 screens are used with the permission of the publisher. Copyright 1996, Texas Instruments, Incorporated.