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Some Continuous Probability Distributions

This document summarizes key aspects of the continuous uniform distribution: - The continuous uniform distribution has a density function that is "flat" and uniform within a closed interval [A,B]. - The density function forms a rectangle with base B-A and constant height of 1/(B-A). - Probabilities within the distribution interval [A,B] are simple to calculate due to the uniform nature of the density function. - An example is given of conference room usage times modeled by a continuous uniform distribution on the interval [0,4] hours.

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Jeremy Izzy Dagami
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30 views2 pages

Some Continuous Probability Distributions

This document summarizes key aspects of the continuous uniform distribution: - The continuous uniform distribution has a density function that is "flat" and uniform within a closed interval [A,B]. - The density function forms a rectangle with base B-A and constant height of 1/(B-A). - Probabilities within the distribution interval [A,B] are simple to calculate due to the uniform nature of the density function. - An example is given of conference room usage times modeled by a continuous uniform distribution on the interval [0,4] hours.

Uploaded by

Jeremy Izzy Dagami
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 6

Some Continuous Probability Distributions


6.1 Continuous Uniform Distribution
One of the simplest continuous distributions in all of statistics is the continuous uniform
distribution. This distribution is characterized by a density function that is "flat," and thus the
probability is uniform in a closed interval, say [A, B]. Although applications of the continuous
uniform distribution are not as abundant as they are for other distributions discussed in this
chapter, it is appropriate for the novice to begin this introduction to continuous distributions with
the uniform distribution.

Uniform Distribution: The density function of the continuous uniform random variable X on the
Distribution interval [A, B] is
1
F(x;A,B) = {(B−A, A ≤ x ≥ B, 0, elsewhere.

It should be emphasized to the reader that the density function forms a rectangle with base B-A
𝟏
and constant height𝑩−𝑨, As a result, the uniform distribution is often called the rectangular
distribution. The density function for a uniform random variable on the interval [1, 3] is shown
in Figure 6.1.
Probabilities are simple to calculate for the uniform distribution due to the simple nature of the
density function. However, note that the application of this distribution is based on the
assumption that the probability of falling in an interval of fixed length within [A, B] is constant.

Example 6.1:1 Suppose that a large conference room for a certain company can be reserved for
no more than 4 hours. However, the use of the conference room is such that both long and short
conferences occur quite often. In fact, it can be assumed that length X of a conference has a
uniform distribution on the interval [0, 4].
(a) What is the probability density function?
(b) What is the probability that any given conference lasts at least 3 hours?
(c) Solution: (a) The appropriate density function for the uniformly distributed random
variable

Figure 6.1: The density function for a random variable on the interval [1,3].
1
Fix) = {4 ; 0 ≤; 𝑟 ≤ 4}0, elsewhere.
1
(b) P[X>3]= f dx 4

Theorem 6.1:

The mean and variance of the uniform distribution are

A+B (𝐵−𝐴
P= and 𝜎 2 =
2 12

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