Probability Workbook for Dummies.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rumsey, Deborah J.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (290 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Newark : John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2026.

Summary:

Sharpen your probability skills What are the chances you'll ace your next exam?Land that promotion?Beat the house in Vegas?With Probability Workbook For Dummies, you'll stop guessing and start knowing.This book is your practical toolkit for learning to calculate the probability of, well, anything.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part 1 The Certainty of Uncertainty: Probability Basics

Chapter 1 Seeing Probability in Everyday Life

Understanding What Probability Means

Calculating Probabilities

Avoiding These Probability Misconceptions

Solutions to Problems in Seeing Probability in Everyday Life

Chapter 2 Teaming up with Probability Terms and Rules

Building up Your Set Notation

Following Probability Rules

Recognizing Independent Events

Discerning Mutually Exclusive Events

Solutions to Problems in Teaming up with Probability Terms and Rules

Chapter 3 Picturing Probabilities: Venn Diagrams, Trees, and Bayes' Theorem

Using Venn Diagrams to Organize Relationships and Find Probabilities

Using Tree Diagrams to Display Marginal and Conditional Probabilities

The Law of Total Probability

Bayes' Theorem

Solutions to Problems in Picturing Probabilities: Venn Diagrams, Trees, and Bayes' Theorem

Part 2 Counting on Probability and Betting to Win

Chapter 4 Setting the Contingency Table with Probabilities

Organizing a Contingency Table

Finding and Interpreting Marginal Probabilities Using a Contingency Table

Finding and Interpreting Conditional Probabilities Using a Contingency Table

Checking for Independence of Two Events in a 2 x 2 Table

Solutions to Problems in Setting the Contingency Table with Probabilities

Chapter 5 Unraveling Counting Rules

Pondering Permutations

Figuring Permutation Probabilities

Catching up on Combinations

Probabilities Involving Combinations

Solutions to Problems in Unraveling Counting Rules

Chapter 6 Against All Odds: Probability in Gaming.

Playing the Lottery

Betting on Blackjack

Reviewing a Bit about Craps

Poking into Poker Hands

Taking a Spin with the Roulette Wheel

Solutions to Problems in Against All Odds: Probability in Gaming

Part 3 From A to Binomial: Basic Probability Distributions

Chapter 7 Dealing with Discrete Probability Distributions

Finding the Probability Distribution of a Discrete Random Variable

Calculating Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation of a Discrete Random Variable

Exploring the Discrete Uniform Distribution

Solutions to Problems in Dealing with Discrete Probability Distributions

Chapter 8 Juggling Success and Failure with the Binomial Distribution

Identifying the Characteristics of the Binomial Distribution

Finding Probabilities for the Binomial Distribution

Finding the Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation of the Binomial Distribution

Solutions to Problems in Juggling Success and Failure with the Binomial Distribution

Chapter 9 Normalizing the Normal Distribution

Charting the Basics of the Normal Distribution

Understanding the Standard Normal (Z) Distribution

Finding Probabilities for a Normal Distribution

Handling Percentiles

Solutions to Problems in Normalizing the Normal Distribution

Chapter 10 Approximating a Binomial with a Normal Distribution

Identifying When You Need the Normal Approximation

Forming Z Using the Mean and Standard Deviation of the Binomial

Approximating to Solve Large-Scale Probability Problems

Solutions to Problems in Approximating a Binomial with a Normal Distribution

Chapter 11 Sampling Distributions and the Central Limit Theorem

Surveying a Sampling Distribution

Examining the Mean and the Standard Error of

Exploring the Shape of and the Central Limit Theorem

Finding Probabilities for the Sample Mean.

Solutions to Problems in Sampling Distributions and the Central Limit Theorem

Chapter 12 Probability's Role in Confidence Intervals and Hypothesis Tests

Reviewing Confidence Intervals and Probability

Exploring Hypothesis Testing and Probability

Solutions to Problems in Probability's Role in Confidence Intervals and Hypothesis Tests

Part 4 Taking It up a Notch: Advanced Probability Models

Chapter 13 Working with the Poisson (a Nonpoisonous) Distribution

Identifying a Poisson Distribution from a Binomial Distribution

Obtaining Probabilities for a Poisson Distribution

Finding the Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation of the Poisson Distribution

Processing the Poisson Process: The Business of Changing Units

Approximating the Poisson Distribution with the Normal Distribution

Solutions to Problems in Working with the Poisson (a Nonpoisonous) Distribution

Chapter 14 Covering All Angles of the Geometric Distribution

Characteristics of the Geometric Distribution

Finding Probabilities for the Geometric Distribution

Probing the Mean, Variance, and Expected Value of the Geometric Distribution

Solutions to Problems in Covering All Angles of the Geometric Distribution

Chapter 15 Making a Positive Out of the Negative Binomial Distribution

Checking to See When You Have a Negative Binomial Distribution

Noting Probabilities for a Negative Binomial

Figuring the Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation of the Negative Binomial

Solutions to Problems in Making a Positive Out of the Negative Binomial Distribution

Chapter 16 Not Getting Hyper about the Hypergeometric Distribution

Identifying the Hypergeometric Distribution

Producing Probabilities for the Hypergeometric Distribution

Setting up the hypergeometric probability mass function

Understanding the boundary conditions (domain) of X.

Counting on the Expected Value, Variance, and Standard Deviation of the Hypergeometric

Solutions to Problems in Not Getting Hyper about the Hypergeometric Distribution

Part 5 For the Hotshots: Continuous Probability Models

Chapter 17 Staying in Line with the Continuous Uniform Distribution

Characterizing the Continuous Uniform Distribution

Finding Probabilities for the Continuous Uniform Distribution

Calculating the Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation of the Continuous Uniform Distribution

Calculating Percentiles for the Continuous Uniform Distribution

Solutions to Problems in Staying in Line with the Continuous Uniform Distribution

Chapter 18 Exposing the Exponential Distribution (and Its Relationship to Poisson)

Characterizing the Exponential Distribution

Finding Probabilities for the Exponential Distribution

Less-than (or less-than-or-equal-to) probabilities

Greater-than (or greater-than-or-equal-to) probabilities

Probability between two values (including the endpoints or not)

Expressing the Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation of the Exponential

Relating the Exponential and Poisson Distributions

Solutions to Problems in Exposing the Exponential Distribution (and Its Relationship to Poisson)

Part 6 The Part of Tens

Chapter 19 Top Ten Probability Mistakes

Forgetting Where Probabilities Live

Misinterpreting Very Small Probabilities

Using Probability for Short-Term Predictions

Thinking 1-2-3-4-5 and 6 Can't Win Powerball

Thinking "I'm on a Roll!"

Giving Every Two Outcomes a 50-50 Chance

Applying the Wrong Probability Distribution

Leaving Conditions Unchecked

Confusing Permutations and Combinations

Assuming Independence

Chapter 20 Ten Probability Distributions to Compare

Discrete Uniform Distribution

Binomial Distribution

Normal Distribution.

Normal Approximation to the Binomial Distribution

Poisson Distribution

Geometric Distribution

Negative Binomial Distribution

Hypergeometric Distribution

Continuous Uniform Distribution

Exponential Distribution

Appendix A Tables for Reference

Binomial Table

Normal Table

Poisson Table

Index

EULA.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-394-36818-6

9781394368181

OCLC:

1574791029