r/askmath Search in r/askmath Log In

r/askmath • 8 mo. ago

Nebuioe r/askmath Join

How can the binomial theorem possibly be related to probability? Ask a Math Question
This subreddit is for questions of a
Probability mathematical nature. Please read the
(Photo: Binomial formula/identity) subreddit rules below before posting.
Public
I've recently been learning about the connection between the binomial theorem and the binomial distribution, yet it
just doesn't seem very intuitive to me how the binomial formula/identity basically just happens to be the probability 174K 28 Top 1%
mass function of the binomial distribution. Like how can expanding a binomial possibly be related to probability in Members Online Rank by size

«(R+x)
some way? 4-иХ
r/maths • 2 yr. ago

Calculus 1: The Binomial

Expansion Formula Derivation… youtube

0=4 and Proof

3 upvotes · 1 comment

r/askmath • 17 days ago

Why is the logarithm function so magical?

Archived post. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 119 upvotes · 49 comments

r/askmath • 9 mo. ago

243 46 Share
Is there a converse of the binomial theorem?
1 upvote · 1 comment
HoodyPrivacy • Promoted

r/learnmath • 9 yr. ago

Hoody AI: anonymous access to the best AI model providers from a privacy-first unified
dashboard. How does Pascal's triangle give the
coefficients for (a+b)^n and how does "n…
View More hoody.com choose
7 upvotesp"
· gives it's elements?
5 comments

Sort by: Best Search Comments

Rulleskijon • 8mo ago •

Picture you throw a coin twice. The possible outcomes are:

HH
HT
TH
TT

If we are interested in the total number of heads and tails, the two outcomes in the middle are somewhat
the same, leaving us with:
1 * HH
2 * HT
1 * TT

If we take (x + y)2
.. = 1 x2 + 2 xy + y2 .

The coefficients are the same.

So in a way, the total probabillity can be written as:

( H + T )2 = 1 HH + 2 HT + 1 TT.

It is moreso that some probabillity distributions are derived from processes that in turn can be described
by the binomial theorem.

129 Award Share

25 more replies

Lor1an • 8mo ago •

You wouldn't think the riemann-zeta function has anything to do with prime numbers, and yet there's a
famous conjecture that says otherwise.

When you really think about it, the total probability for a binomial random variable has to be 1, right?

1 = 1n = (p + 1-p)n = (p+q)n = sum_k(C(n,k)*pk*qn-k).

This is entirely in line with the formula above, where each choice of k corresponds to the number of
successes, and n is the total number of trials.

35 Award Share

existentialpenguin • 8mo ago •

there's a famous conjecture that says otherwise.

We do not have to resort to conjectures for this connection: the Euler product formula rewrites the
zeta function as a product over primes, Riemann's explicit formula expresses the prime-counting
function as a sum over the zeta zeroes, and most proofs of the prime number theorem proceed by
showing that there are no zeta-zeroes with real part 1.

3 Award Share

1 more reply

rileythesword • 8mo ago • 4-иХ

へ

I would say a more infinitive understanding is to ask yourself what does the coefficient and what do the
=
probabilities means, understand that with binomial distributions we consider cumalituve results, mainly
combinations. This means that if we have a win or loss situation the patterns WWL and WLW and LWW are
indistinguishable number of W=2 and the L=1, if we assign a set probability and complement of this
probability to W and L we know that we have the probability of W to the power of how many wins we got
and the probability of L to the power of how many losses we have, now how do we determine how many
0=4
ways we can arrange these combinations of wins and losses well we say, we have n times we do the game,
this means there are n possible outcomes for the game where we have n objects we can arrangne into n!
Different ways, however we must note that we want to know how many ways can we get a specific number
of wins, this number we call k and so we basically are saying how many ways can we arrange our wins and
loses in a total of n-games to have a cumaltive number of wins k, basically the idea is that in the case of 3
games with 2 wins we can understand that with the indistinguishable wins and loses and order not being
imprortant there are three possible ways to arrange our wins and loses which are distinct, We can have
WWL and WLW and LWW not howver that I said distinct, that is why we have the k! In the formula, to
account for the number of ways we can arrange these 2 W’s, so if we have the probability of a specific
event occurring, multiplied by the number of ways you can get said event, you have your binomial
distribution! I hope this helps

8 Award Share

grebdlogr • 8mo ago • Edited 8mo ago •

Consider an event with probability p. Then the likelihood it doesn’t happen is q = 1 - p so the probability of
it either happening or not is p+q=1.

Suppose N independent trials happen like this. That’s called a binomial process.

The joint probability of either outcome happening in each trial is (p+q)N = 1. However, this probability is (via
the binomial theorem) equal to
Sum(k=0 to N) nCk pN-k qk

But the kth term in this is exactly the probability of it happening N-k times multiplied by the number of
ways that can happen among N trials.

Hence, the binomial theorem tells you the probability of each number of outcomes in N trials of a binomial
process.

Example: 2 trials:

Doesn’t occur: prob = q2

Happens once: prob = 2 p q

(Two because it can happen in either the first or second trial.)

Happens twice: prob = p2

Sum of all possibilities:

q2 + 2 p q + p2 = (p+q)2 = 1

6 Award Share

Mayoday_Im_in_love • 8mo ago •

And then you have Pascal's triangle which gives the number of routes on a Plinko board, which is another
description of the same thing.

Of course Pascal wasn't really a mathematician since he spent most of his time gambling over the
existence of God.

4 Award Share

Bobebobbob • 8mo ago •

Any sequence of (non-negative) numbers that add up to 1 can define a pmf.

4 Award Share

1 more reply

Ksorkrax • 8mo ago •

To add a connection to yet another seemingly unrelated field:

You also use this to draw curvy lines, such as Bezier curves.

3 Award Share

KentGoldings68 • 8mo ago •

Consider

(x+y)3

=(x+y)(x+y)(x+y)

As we multiply, consider the x2 y term. You’re choosing one from each factor. Choosing x is a success,
choosing y is a failure. The number of ways to do this is the number ways to get exactly 2 successes in 3
attempts. So, the binomial coefficients naturally appear in the binomial probability distribution formula.

3 Award Share

Manny__C • 8mo ago •

You want to compute (x+y)n. Before doing the computation you know that the result will be a sum of terms
of the form xk y{n-k}. But what is the coefficient?

Imagine to expand out the power as (x+y)(x+y)... n times. Then the term above will be one where out of all
the parentheses you picked k times the x and n-k times the y.

Imagine to pick randomly x with probability x and y with probability y. Then the probability of picking x k
times and y n-k times will be proportional to xk y{n-k} with the coefficient being how often that term
appears in the sum.

The coefficient is the binomial coefficient n choose k.

2 Award Share