The Professor's Response
Hello Professor,
Can you explain the process for the homework in 4.4 number 23 please?
I only get 30 Choose 15, but I dont know my p or my q.
Please help.
Thank you
See the professor's answer below.
Hi Christina,
For every binomial probability problem, we need to identify n, x, and p.
n represents the number of trials, so in this case it is the number of flips of the coin.
x represents the number of successes we have. In this problem we are looking to get heads, so heads is our success. Thus, we will say x = 15 because we want 15 heads, and x is the number of successes.
Lastly, we need to determine p. p is our probability of success. Well, if heads are what we want, heads are our success, so we need the probability of a heads turning up on a single flip of the coin. That probability is 1/2 =0.50 because there is one head on the coin and two total sides. **Remember q = 1 - p, so q = 1 - 1/2 = 1/2 = 0.50.
Then we just turn to the formula: nCx p^x * q^(n-x) = 30C15 * 0.50^15*0.50^15
I hope that helps,
Professor McGuckian