The Hypergeometric Distribution
The hypergeometric distribution arises when a random selection (without
repetition) is
made among objects of two distinct types.
Typical examples:
- Choose a team of 8 from a group of 10 boys and 7 girls
- Choose a committee of five from the legislature consisting of
52 Democrats and 48 Republicans
The hypergeometric distribution is described by three parameters:
N, the total number of objects; R, the number of objects of the
first type; and k the number of objects to be chosen.
The probability function f(x) is
f(x) = C(R,x)*C(N-R, k-x) / C(N,k) for x=max(0,k+R-N)..min(R,k)
To Play:
Choose numbers by clicking on the cells. These numbers
will be indicated by blue backgrounds. Hit the "play" button
and the computer will choose the winning numbers (indicated by
red backgrounds). The
random variable X is the number of matches between your
choices, indicated by magenta backgrounds.
Other applets related to probability and statistics.
please sent comments about this applet to:
stanton@math.csusb.edu