Mdm4u 5

 MDM4U
Continuous Probability Distribution: The
Normal Distribution
Continuous vs.
Discrete
MINDS ON
Share Your
Thoughts
When a company fills an aluminum
can with pop for sale, they print the
mL on the can. Often, a can is set to
fill up 355 mL of liquid.
by Coca-Cola Ltd.
What is the probability that a pop

can, which has been filled with 355
mL of liquid, and advertises 355 mL,
actually contains exactly 355 mL?
ACTION
Recall the following information from Unit

5.
Continuous vs.
Discrete
The difference between the two is
whether or not they are obtained by
measuring or counting.
Continuous Data
Definition: Continuous data is data
that is obtained by measuring. You can
measure data in different ways, including
time and distance. Because there is
always a data point that can exist
between two data points and there is a
possibility of infinite data points,
measured data is continuous and
organized into intervals.
Example
How long does it take you to get to
school?
Your answer here could be 20 minutes

for example. Say the intervals the
data was being organized into were:
15-20 minutes,
20-25 minutes,
25-30 minutes.
What interval would your time go into?

You would have to look at the
accuracy of your time.
As a continuous data point, 20

minutes is either higher than 20
(20.000000001 for example) or lower
than 20 (19.999999999 for example).
So you would always be able to
decide which interval you belong to.
Discrete Data
Definition: Discrete data is data that is
obtained by counting. This type of data
was what you focused on in the first half
of this course. Discrete data points,
unlike continuous ones, do not have
points between points. There are a finite
number of possibilities.
Examples
1. How many heads do you get
when you flip a coin 3 times? The
only possibilities are 0,1,2 and 3.
There are no values between
these.
2. What percent did you score on

your G1 driver's test? Here, even
though the numbers can be
decimals, they were obtained by
counting the score. Making the
score a percent does not change
it from a discrete data point to a
continuous one. Even if the
instructor used half or quarter
points, it is not possible to score
every value on the number line
(even decimals) between 0 and
40.
Calculating
Probabilities
We have spent the first half of the course
learning about how to calculate
probabilities for discrete distributions, by
counting the total number of possible
ways to arrive at a specific outcome and
divide by the total possible ways to arrive
at all outcomes. As discrete variables
are measured by counting, discrete
probabilities are calculated by counting.
In a discrete probability histogram, each

of the outcomes would have its own
unique probability, and you can read the
probabilities of each outcome off of the
graph.
P(x)vS.X
0.4 •P(x)
0.3
0.2
0.11
Probability of x which represents the

number of heads flipped when flipping 3
coins.
The focus of this unit will be on

calculating probabilities for continuous
variables. The probabilities for
continuous variables are calculated by
summarizing data that shows up on an
interval.
Definition: Similar to a discrete

probability histogram, a continuous
probability density graph shows us the
percentage or probability of different
amounts occurring except the histogram
is shown on intervals. We can find the
probabilities of specific intervals by
finding the area of the graph between
those intervals. What makes the
probability density graph very useful is
the fact that the area of the bars add to 1.
This is most easily seen in a graph of

uniformly distributed data:
Record Your
Work
This graph shows the percentage

distribution of wait times for a subway
train that comes every 10 minutes.
This is known as a probability density
histogram since the entire area of the
bars is 1.
Answer the following questions

about the uniformly distributed
graph:
1. What is the probability that a

wait time will be between
between 2 and 5 minutes?
wait time is more than 6
minutes?
wait time is less than 2.5
minutes?
wait time is exactly 4 minutes?
Compare your answers to the

solutions below. What did you get
correct? What are you having trouble
with?
Solutions
1. 30%
2. 60%
3. 25%
4. 0%
Now, often, you will see a probability

density graph with intervals that are not a
width of 1. See the following graphing on
the distribution of teacher ages at an
Ontario High School.
Age distribution of teachers at an Ontario

high school.
The height of each bar is 0.1428.
Age is a continuous variable, and for this

example, teacher's ages would be the
time since they were born. In other
words, if a teacher was 35, they would be
in the 35-40 interval. If a teacher was 40,
they would be in the 40-45 interval.
Now, the area would not work here to

give the probability of intervals other than
the ones given. The total area under the
curve is or 5
times what it should be.
This is because the interval size is

5. What we can do is take each of the
interval boundaries and call 25 = 0, 30 =
1, 35 = 2 and so on....
This would be the same as calling 5

years equal to 1 unit.
This would be illustrated in the following

graph, by taking each age, subtracting 25
and then dividing by 5:
Age distribution of teachers at an Ontario

high school.
The height of each bar is 0.1428.
The units represent every 5 years, starting
at age 25.
Now we can calculate probabilities

involving the teachers by using the area
of the bars because the total area is:
You will calculate probabilities for this

graph in the quiz in this activity.
A common question for discrete

probabilities is whether or not the
question includes the number given. For
example, if you wanted to find the
probability of less than 2 heads flipped on
3 coins, you would have to ask whether
or not 2 heads is included. Asking "What
is the probability of 2 or less heads on the
flip of 3 coins?" is different from asking
"What is the probability of less than 2
heads on the flip of 3 coins?" For the first,
we could write: . For the second
we could write which is the same
as .
For continuous probabilities, since the

probability of any specific value is 0%,
the probability that a number is less than
a certain number is the same as the
probability that a number is less than or
equal to that certain number. In other
words, is the same as
. The area of the bars over these
intervals are the same.
Challenges with
Continuous Variables
Unlike discrete variables like the ones we
saw in the first half of this course,
continuous variables do not have
theoretical probabilities associated with
them. Often we can only base our
probabilities on past data and create a
histogram based on a sample of the
data. The length of time it takes you to
get to school, for example, can be
modelled after collecting a sample of the
times it takes you to get to school. There
will be some variability in the data,
requiring a measure of the mean and the
standard deviation, which we will see in
the remainder of the unit. There is also a
need to assume that the data will behave
in a certain way, by being normally
distributed around the mean.
In Activity 4, you will see some data for

Hurricane wind speeds. Now, since it is
impossible to calculate the theoretical
probability of a Hurricane having a wind
speed of greater than a certain amount,
the best we can do is to make a
mathematical model based on the past
data that we have. This may include only
a sample of the data, which will need to
represent the population. It may also
require us to use data that may not be as
accurate, because it was calculated by
different sources.
CONSOLIDATION
Application and
Thinking
Revisit the 100m results discussed
in the Introduction. Based on what
you have learned in this activity,
did Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix
actually tie for 3rd?
What would you recommend to

avoid this in the future?

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 MDM4U

Continuous Probability Distribution: The

What is the probability that a pop

Recall the following information from Unit

Your answer here could be 20 minutes

What interval would your time go into?

As a continuous data point, 20

2. What percent did you score on

In a discrete probability histogram, each

Probability of x which represents the

The focus of this unit will be on

Definition: Similar to a discrete

This is most easily seen in a graph of

This graph shows the percentage

Answer the following questions

1. What is the probability that a

Compare your answers to the

Now, often, you will see a probability

Age distribution of teachers at an Ontario

Age is a continuous variable, and for this

Now, the area would not work here to

This is because the interval size is

This would be the same as calling 5

This would be illustrated in the following

Age distribution of teachers at an Ontario

Now we can calculate probabilities

You will calculate probabilities for this

A common question for discrete

For continuous probabilities, since the

In Activity 4, you will see some data for

What would you recommend to

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