EXAMPLE 3Probability distribution table

Construct the probability distribution table of the number of heads observed when tossing a fair coin twice.

Solution

The probability distribution table given in Table 1 uses the probabilities we found on page 246.

313

Table 6.1: Table 1Probability distribution table of the number of heads on two fair coin tosses
0 1 2
1/4 1/2 1/4

The probabilities in Table 1 were assigned using the classical method, because we assumed that tossing a fair coin would result in equally likely outcomes.

NOW YOU CAN DO

Exercises 17a–24a.