Procedure Identification Practice
This web page gives you practice in identifying the distribution, given the description.
Purpose
Welcome to the page that helps you determine the important characteristics of distributions. In practicing here, you will gain experience in:
- parsing the description for important details
- determine qualities of the random variable
- determine the probability distribution that best matches the described random variable
The Random Variable
Here is the description of the random variable. Think about the description. Ask the important questions. Is this discrete or continuous? Are you describing observations or averages? Does the random variable have limitations? Get to know the random variable by answering these questions. Now that you have your answer, click on the box corresponding to your choice to see if it is the correct answer. Once you do, the explanation (and the correct answer) will show.
the amount of caffeine in a can of Diet Pepsi
Since “amount” indicates a continuous random variable, we know the distribution is the Uniform, Exponential, or Normal. There is a target amount of caffeine in a can of Diet Pepsi (35mg). The actual amount in a can is this amount, give-or-take a little. Thus, this random variable would follow a Normal distribution.
Another Example
Let’s try another example. Click “Refresh” in your browser to get another research hypothesis.