Binomial Distributions

An Introduction to Excel’s BINOM.DIST()

Learning Objectives

Understand and use Excel’s BINOM.DIST() function.

Again, we can use Excel’s = BINOM.DIST([latex]x[/latex], [latex]n[/latex], [latex]p[/latex], cumulative) function:

  • [latex]x[/latex] = number of ‘successes’
  • [latex]n[/latex] = number of trials
  • [latex]p[/latex] = probability of success
  • cumulative = either TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) –

We will use cumulative = FALSE (0) for now and explain more on this in the next section.

A First Example Using Excel’s binom.dist (Video)

Let us revisit the same salesperson example from the previous section in the next example.

Example 25.1.1

Problem Setup: Again, let a salesperson call 10 clients in a day. Let the odds of the salesperson making a sale with any one of the clients be [latex]p[/latex]=0.3

Question: What is the probability of that 4 of her 10 calls in a day will result in sales? Use Excel to solve this problem.

Solution: Click here to download the Excel solutions. Also, see the video below:

Calculating Multiple Probabilities Using Excel (VIDEO)

Let us explore using Excel to calculate the probabilities for all possible outcomes in the Salesperson problem.

Example 25.1.2

Problem Setup: Again, let a salesperson call 10 clients in a day and 0.3 be the odds of the salesperson making a sale.

Question: What are the probabilities for the salesperson making any number of sales (between 0 and 10) in a day?

Solution: Click here to download the Excel solutions. Also, see the video below

Key Takeaways (EXERCISE)

Key Takeaways: An Introduction to Excel’s BINOM.DIST()

Your Own Notes (EXERCISE)

  • Are there any notes you want to take from this section? Is there anything you’d like to copy and paste below?
  • These notes are for you only (they will not be stored anywhere)
  • Make sure to download them at the end to use as a reference

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

An Introduction to Business Statistics for Analytics (1st Edition) Copyright © 2024 by Amy Goldlist; Charles Chan; Leslie Major; Michael Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book