Parametric Families of Discrete Distributions

Family PMF MEAN Variance MGF Notes

𝑁
Discrete 1 𝑁+1 𝑁2 − 1 𝑒 𝑗𝑡 𝑋~𝑈(𝑁)
𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝐼{1,2,…..,𝑁} (𝑥) ∑
Uniform 𝑁 2 12 𝑁 N is a positive integer
𝑗=1

𝑋~𝐵𝑒(𝑝)
Bernoulli 𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑝 𝑥 (1 − 𝑝)1−𝑥 𝐼{0,1} (𝑥) 𝑝 𝑝𝑞 𝑝𝑒 𝑡 + 𝑞
Bernoulli trial – success or failure

𝑋~𝐵𝑖(𝑛, 𝑝)
𝑛  X = no. of successes out of n trials
Binomial 𝑝𝑋 (x) = ( ) 𝑝 𝑥 (1 − 𝑝)𝑛−𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,…,𝑛} (𝑥) 𝑛𝑝 n𝑝𝑞 (𝑝𝑒 𝑡 + 𝑞)𝑛
𝑥  with replacement
 converges to Poisson when n is large
𝑋~𝐻𝑦𝑝(𝑛, 𝐾, 𝑀)
𝐾 𝑀−𝐾  X = no. of successes in a sample of
( )( ) 𝑛𝐾 𝑛𝐾(𝑀 − 𝑛)(𝑀 − 𝐾) size n
Hypergeometric 𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑥 𝑛 − 𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,…,𝑛} (𝑥) −
𝑀 𝑀 𝑀2 (𝑀 − 1)  without replacement
( )
𝑛  converges to binomial when M is
very large

𝑋~𝑃𝑜(𝜆)
𝑒 −𝜆 𝜆𝑥
Poisson 𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝐼 (𝑥) 𝜆 𝜆 exp{𝜆(𝑒 𝑡 − 1)} X = no. of occurrences in the time interval
𝑥! {0,1,2,….} [0,t)

𝑋~𝐺𝑒𝑜(𝑝)
𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑝(1 − 𝑝)𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,….} (𝑥)
𝑞 1 𝑞 𝑝 𝑝𝑒 𝑡  X = no. of failures before 1st success;
Geometric or or 𝑝2
or 1−𝑞𝑒 𝑡
𝑝 𝑝 1−𝑞𝑒 𝑡 OR
𝑝𝑋 (x) = 𝑝(1 − 𝑝)𝑥−1 𝐼{1,2,….} (𝑥)
 X = no. of trials before 1st success
𝑟 + 𝑥 − 1 𝑟 (1 𝑋~𝑁𝐵(𝑟, 𝑝)
𝑝𝑋 (x) = ( )𝑝 − 𝑝)𝑥 𝐼{0,1,2,….} (𝑥)
Negative 𝑥 𝑟𝑞 𝑟 𝑟𝑞 𝑝 𝑟 𝑝𝑒 𝑡
𝑟  X = no. of failures before rth success;
or or (1−𝑞𝑒 𝑡 ) or (1−𝑞𝑒 𝑡 )
Binomial 𝑥−1 𝑟
𝑝 𝑝 𝑝2 OR
𝑝𝑋 (x) = ( ) 𝑝 (1 − 𝑝)𝑥−𝑟 𝐼{𝑟,𝑟+1,𝑟+2,….} (𝑥)  X = no. of trials before rth success
𝑟−1
1. A container van will deliver 500 cellphone chargers, but products must pass a quality check before distribution. The quality control officer gets a simple
random sample of 10 cellphone chargers with replacement, and tests each charge. If at least 3 of the sampled tablets are defective, then the whole
batch of tablets will be sent back to the factory. Currently, this batch is believed to have 50 defective tablets. What is the probability of rejecting this
batch of products for distribution? Round off to 4 decimal places.
2. In a call center, the average number of phone calls in 30 minutes is 3. The number of phone calls within an hour was observed to follow a Poisson
distribution (i.e. phone calls are “random” and independent of each other). If you just received a call, what’s the probability of receiving another phone
call after 1 hour or more? Round off to 4 decimal places
3. A group of researcher wants to study the weight of adult freshwater groupers in a river. As a sampling strategy, they safely took a sample of groupers
with replacement until 10 female groupers were caught and weighed. They took their sample from various locations of the river. Based on historical
data, there are 2 female groupers for every 3 male groupers. Let X be the number of groupers sampled until 10 female groupers were caught and
weighed. Then, X follows a (a) _____ distribution. The expected number of male groupers caught before catching 10 female groupers is (b) ____ with
variance (c)_____.
4. MetFlix is a movie streaming site/application. In MetFlix, each movie has ratings ranging from 0% to 100% or [0, 1]. Let X be the rating of a movie in
MetFlix. The values of X found to fit a Beta Distribution with parameters 𝛼 = 8 and 𝛽 = 2. What is the mean and variance of MetFlix movie ratings?
5. A bottle cap manufacturing machine produces bottle caps whose diameter is normally distributed with mean 1.25 inches and standard deviation of .05
inch. What is the probability of producing a bottle cap that is 1.22 to 1.26 inches in diameter?
6. Suppose 𝑋~𝜒2(𝑘). Using any technique, identify the specific distribution of 𝑌 = 5𝑋, i.e. specify the name of the distribution, and exact values of the
parameter/s.
7. A factory has ten (10) parallel and non-interacting sources of power. The factory needs at least 4 live sources of power for daily operations. Based on
historical data, a power source fails 20% of the time. Suppose X is the number of “failing” power sources. Identify an appropriate distribution for X.
Specify the name, and exact values of parameters.
8. A rare kind of mushroom is being explored in a forest. It seems that networks of mushrooms tend to live independently from each other. On the
average, there are 5 networks of mushrooms per 10 square kilometers. The number of networks of mushrooms in a square kilometer fits a Poisson
distribution. What is the probability of finding at least 1 network of mushroom in 1 sq. km.?
9. An oil company conducted a geological study and they found out that the average number of oil drills until the first oil strike is 4. Now, there are several
independent oil wells being studied and being considered for oil extraction. An oil well is drilled and explored for oil one at a time. What is the
probability of observing the second oil strike on the 5th well?
10. The average number of SPAM e-mails received within a day (24 hours) is 3. The number of SPAM e-mails received fits a Poisson distribution. If you just
received a SPAM e-mail, what is the probability of receiving another SPAM e-mail in 4 hours or less?
11. Using transformation technique. Derive the PDF of 𝑌 = 𝑋 2, when 𝑋~𝐸𝑥𝑝(1). Write the PDF only.
12. In a barangay comprise of 20,000 households, a sample of 1000 households will be selected at random without replacement. Based on a census, 12,000
households have at least one active registered voter. Suppose X is the number of sampled households without an active register voter. What is average
and variance of X?
13. A bank receives 40% of its bankcard applications from single people. if a sample of 150 applications were randomly selected with replacement. What is
the probability of selecting at least 55 but less than 70 applications from single people? Approximate the probability (i.e. normal approximation).