probability and statstical inference 2

PROBABILITY & STATISTICAL

INFERENCE LECTURE 2

MSc in Computing (Data Analytics)

Lecture Outline

Introduction

Introduction to Probability Theory

Discrete Probability Distributions

Question Time

Introduction

Probability & Statistics

We want to make decisions

based on evidence from a

sample i.e. extrapolate

from sample evidence to a

general population

To make such decisions we

need to be able to

quantify our (un)certainty

about how good or bad

our sample information is.

Population

Representative Sample

Sample Statistic

Describe

Make

Inference

Example: How many voters will give F.F. a first preference in the

next general election ?

researcher A takes a sample of size 10 and find 4 people who

say they will

-researcher B takes a sample of size 100 and find 25 people

who say they will

Researcher A => 40%

Researcher B => 25%

Who would you believe?

Probability & Statistics - Example


Example: How many voters will give F.F. a first preference in the next general election ?

researcher A takes a sample of size 10 and find 4 people who say they will

- researcher B takes a sample of size 100 and find 25 people who say they will

Researcher A => 40%

Researcher B => 25%

Who would you believe?


Intuitively the bigger sample would get more credence but how much better is it, and are either of the samples any good?

Probability helps

Descriptive Statistics are helpful but still lead to decision making by 'intuition‘

Probability helps to quantify (un)certainty which is a more powerful aid to the decision maker

Probability & Statistics

Using probability theory we can measure

the amount of uncertainty/certainty in

our statistics.

Intuitions and Probability – Lotto

example

If you had an Irish lotto ticket which of these sets of

numbers is more likely to win:

1. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Odds of winning are 1 in 8145060

2. 2 11 26 27 35 42

Odds of winning are 1 in 8145060

Intuitions and Probability – Disease

example Suppose we have a diagnostic test for a disease which

is 99% accurate.

A person is picked at random and tested for the

disease

The test gives a positive result. What is the probability

that the person actually has the disease?

99% ?

Disease example

Test Results

Those that don’t have/do have the disease

If you take a population of 1,000,000

1,000,000

999,900

989,991 9,999

100

99 1

No!! IT depends on how common or rare the disease is.

Suppose the disease affects 1 person in 10,000

Of those who test positive only have the

disease

0098.0999999

99

Introduction to Probability Theory

Some Definitions

An experiment that can result in different outcomes, even though it is repeated in the same manner every time, is called a random experiment.

The set of all possible outcomes of a random experiment is called the sample space of an experiment and is denote by S

Example:

Experiment: Toss two coins and observe the up face on each

Sample Space:

1. Observe HH

2. Observe HT

3. Observe TH

4. Observe TT

S : {HH,HT,TH,TT}

Some Definitions

A sample space is discrete if it consists of a finite or

countable infinite set if outcomes

A sample space is continuous if it contains an

interval or real numbers

An event is a subset of the sample space of a

random experiment & we generally calculate the

probability of a certain event accurring

Counting

A permutation of the elements is an ordered sequence of the elements.

Example: S : {a,b,c}

All the permutations of the elements of S are abc, acb, bca, bac, cba & cab.

The number of permutations of n different elements is n!, where:

n! = n * (n-1) * (n-2) * .......* 2 * 1

Above n=3 => 3! = 3 * 2 * 1 = 6

Counting

The number of permutations of subsets r elements selected from a set of n different elements is

Where order is not important when selecting r elements from a set of n different elements is called a combination:

)!(

!

rn

nP

n

r

)!(!

!

rnr

nC

n

r

Probability

Whenever a sample space consists of N Possible outcomes that are equally likely, the probability of the outcome 1/N.

For a discrete sample space, the probability of an event E, denoted by P(E), equals the sum of the probabilities of the outcome in E.

Some rules for probabilities:

For a given sample space containing n event sE1, E2, ....,En

1. All simple event probabilities must lie between 0 and 1:

0 <= P(Ei) <= 1 for i=1,2,........,n

2. The sum of the probabilities of all the simple events within a sample space must be equal to 1:

1)(

1

n

i

iEP

Probability – Example 1

Example:

Experiment: Toss two coins and observe the up

face on each

Sample Space: S : {HH,HT,TH,TT}

Probability of each event:

1. E = HH => P(HH) = 1/4

2. E = HT => P(HT) = 1/4

3. E = TH => P(TH) = 1/4

4. E = TT => P(HH) = 1/4


The probability of an event A is equal to the sum of all the probabilities in event A:

Example: Experiment: Toss two coins and observe the up face on each

Event A: {Observe exactly one head}

P(A) = P(HT) + P(TH) = ¼ + ¼ = ½

Event B : {Observe at least one head}

P(B) = P(HH) + P(HT) + P(TH) = ¼ + ¼ + ¼ = ¾


Below is the probability distribution of a random variable S for

the sum of values obtained by rolling two dice

Compound Events

The union of two event A and B is the event that

occurs if either A or B, or both, occur on a single

performance of the experiment denoted by A U B (A

or B)

The intersection of two events A and B is the event

that occurs if both A and B occur on a single

performance of an experiment denoted by A B or

(A and B)

Compound Events

Example: Consider a die tossing experiment with equally

likely simple events {1,2,3,4,5,6}. Define the events A, B and C.

A:{Toss an even number} = {2,4,6}

B:{Toss a less than or equal to 3} = {1,2,3}

C:{Toss a number greater than 1} = {2,3,4,5,6}

Find:

)(

)(

CBAP

and

BAP

Complementary Event

The complementary of an event A is the event that

A does not occur denoted by A´

Note that AU A` = S, the sample space

P(A) + P(A`) =1 => P(A) = 1 – P(A`)

Questions

1. What is the sample space when a coin

is tossed 3 times?

2. What is the probability of tossing all heads or

all tails.

3. What is the sample space of throwing

a fair die.

4. If a fair die is thrown what is the probability

of throwing a prime number (2,3,5)?

Questions

4. A factory has two assembly lines, each of which is shut down (S), at partial capacity (P), or at full capacity (F). The following table gives the sample space

For where (S,P) denotes that the first assembly line is shut down and the second one is operating at partial capacity. What is the probability that:

a) Both assembly lines are shut down?

b) Neither assembly lines are shut down

c) At least one assembly line is on full capacity

d) Exactly one assembly line is at full capacity

Event A P(A) Event A P(A) Event A P(A)

(S,S) 0.02 (S,P) 0.06 (S,F) 0.05

(P,S) 0.07 (P,P) 0.14 (P,F) 0.2

(F,S) 0.06 (F,P) 0.21 (F,F) 0.19

Conditional Probability

The conditional probability of event A conditional on

event B is

for P(B)>0. It measures the probability that event A

occurs when it is known that event B occur.

Example: A = odd result on die = {1,3,5}

B = result > 3 = {4,5,6}

)(

)()|(

BP

BAPBAP

31

63

61

)|( BAP

Conditional Probability Example

Example: A study was carried out to investigate the link between people’s lifestyles and cancer. One of the areas looked at was the link between lung cancer and smoking. 10,000 people over the age of 55 were studied over a 10 year period. In that time 277 developed lung cancer.

What is the likelihood of somebody developing lung cancer given that they smoke?

Cancer No Cancer Total

Smoker 241 3,325 3,566

Non-Smoker 36 6,398 6,434

Total 277 9,723 10,000

Conditional Probability Example

Event A: A person develops lung cancer

Event B: A person is a smoker

P(A) = 277/10,000 = 0.027

P(B) = 3,566/10,000 = 0.356

068.0

3566.0

0241.0

)(

)()|(

BP

BAPBAP

0241.0000,10/241)( BAP

Exercises

1. A ball is chosen at random from a bag containing

150 balls that are either red or blue and either

dull or shinny. There are 36 red, shiny balls and

54 blue balls. There are 72 dull balls.

1. What is the probability of a chosen ball being shiny

conditional on it being red?

2. What is the probability of a chosen ball being dull

conditional on it being blue?

Mutually Exclusive Events

Two events, A and B, are mutually exclusive given

that if A happens then B can’t also happen.

Example: Roll of a die

A = less than 2

B = even result

There is no way that A and B can happen at the same

time therefore they are mutually exclusive events

Rules for Unions

Additive Rule:

Additive Rule for Mutually Exclusive Events

)()()()( BAPBPAPBAP

)()()( BPAPBAP

Example

Records at an industrial plant show that 12% of all

injured workers are admitted to hospital for

treatment, 16% are back on the job the next day,

and 2% are both admitted to a hospital for

treatment and back to work the next day. If a

worker is injured what is the probability that the

worker will be either admitted to hospital or back

on the job the next day or both?

Independent Events

Events A and B are independent if it is the case that A happening does not alter the probability that B happens.

Example : A = even result on die

B = result > 2

Then, let us say we are told the result on the die (which someone has observed but not us) is even so knowing this, what is the probability that the event B has happened?

Sample space: {2, 4, 6}

B = 4 or 6 => P(B) = 2/3

Independent Events

But if we didn’t know about the even result we would

get:

Sample space: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

B = 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 => P(B) = 4/6 = 2/3

so knowledge about event A has in no way changed

out probability assessment concerning event B

Rules for Intersection

Multiplicative Rule of Probability

If events A and B are independent then

)()|()()|()( APABPBPBAPBAP

)()()( BPAPBAP

Bayes Theorem

One of a number of very useful results: - here is simplest definition:

Suppose: You have two events which are ME and exhaustive – i.e. account

for all the sample space –

Call these events A and event (read ‘not A’).

Further suppose there is another event B, such that

P(B|A) > 0 and P(A|B) > 0.

Then Bayes theorem states:

)'()'|()()|(

)()|()|(

APABPAPABP

APABPBAP

Discrete Probability Distributions

Some Definitions – Random Variables

A random variable is a function that assigns a real

number to each outcome in the sample space of a

random experiment

For example the random variable X is assigned the

number 1 if it rains tomorrow and 0 if it does not

rain tomorrow

Random Variable Example

In statistics we write this example as:

Another Example: The random variable Y is equal

to the amount of rain in inches that is likely to fall

tomorrow

rowrain tomornot doesit if 0

tomorrowrainsit if 1 X

rowrain tomor of inches ofnumber Y

Types Of Random Variables

Random Variables

Discrete

(finite range)

Will it rain tomorrow? Range X{0,1}

Continuous

(infinite range)

Amount of rain tomorrow:

Range Y[0,2.5 inches]

Probability Distributions

The function that describes a random variable is

called a probability distribution

For discrete random variables the probability

distribution is described by a probability mass

function

For continuous random variables the probability

distribution is described by a probability density

function

Discrete Random Variable

A Random Variable (RV) is obtained by assigning a

numerical value to each outcome of a particular

experiment.

Probability Distribution: A table or formula that

specifies the probability of each possible value for

the Discrete Random Variable (DRV)

DRV: a RV that takes a whole number value only


Below is the probability distribution of a random variable S for

the sum of values obtained by rolling two dice

Example: What is the probability distribution for the experiment to assess the

no of tails from tossing 2 coins;

Sample Space

Coin 1 Coin 2

T T

T H

H T

H H

x = no. of tails is the RV

x P(x)

0 = P(HH) = 0.25

1 = P(TH) + P(HT) = 0.50

2 = P(TT) = 0.25

P( any other value ) = 0

N.B. P(x) = 1

0 P(x) 1 for all values of x

Mean of a Discrete Random Variable

Mean of a DRV = = Σ x * p(x)

Example: Throw a fair die

x P(x) x * P(x)

1 0.1667 0.17

2 0.1667 0.33

3 0.1667 0.50

4 0.1667 0.67

5 0.1667 0.83

6 0.1667 1.00

P(any other value) = 0 0

Mean = = Σ x * p(x) = 3.5

Standard Deviation of a DRV

22

22

))(()(

)(

xXxPxXPx

xXPx

x P(x) x2 * P(x)

1 0.1667 0.17

2 0.1667 0.67

3 0.1667 1.50

4 0.1667 2.67

5 0.1667 4.17

6 0.1667 6.00

P(any other value) = 0 0

= 15.17

15.17 - (3.5)2 = 15.17 - 12.25 = 2.92

=> S.D. = 1.71

Example: Rolling one die

Binomial (Probability) Distribution

Many experiments lead to dichotomous responses (i.e. either success/failure, yes/no etc.)

Often a number of independent trials make up the experiment

Example: number of people in a survey who agree with a particular statement?

Survey 100 people => 100 independent trials of Yes/No

The random variable of interest is the no. of successes (however defined)

These are Binomial Random Variables

4 people tested for the presence of a particular gene.

success = presence of gene

P(gene present / success) = 0.55 P(gene absent / failure) = 0.45

P(3 randomly tested people from 4 have gene)?

Assume trials are independent - e.g. the people are not related

There is 4 ways of getting 3 successes

Binomial Distribution Example


Using Independence rule we can calculate the probability of each outcome:

Outcome 1: 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.45 = 0.07486875

Outcome 2: 0.55 0.55 0.45 0.55 = 0.07486875

Outcome 3: 0.55 0.45 0.55 0.55 = 0.07486875

Outcome 4: 0.45 0.55 0.55 0.55 = 0.07486875

4 ways of getting result each with P=0.07486875

=> 4 0.07486875 = 0.299475

=> P(3 randomly tested people have gene) = 0.299475


A more convenient way of mathematically writing the

same result is as follows:

the number of ways you can get three successes from

4 trials is a combination:

2994.0)45.0()55.0( 13

3

4

!)!(

!

rrn

n

r

nC n

r

Binomial Distribution – General

Formula This all leads to a very general rule for calculating binomial probabilities:

In General Binomial (n,p)

n = no. of trials

p = probability of a success

x = RV (no. of successes)

Where P(X=x) is read as the probability of seeing x successes.

xnx ppx

nxXP

)1()(

?)4(

?)3(

?)2(

?)1(

0410065.0)45.0()55.0(0

4)0( 040

XP

XP

XP

XP

XP

Binomial Distribution

For all binomials the mean is given by the simple formula;

= n p

Example: from previous example

= 4 0.55 = 2.2

Standard deviation also has simple formula for all Binomials

Example: from previous example = 0.995

)1(2 pnp

)1( pnp

Binomial Distribution

What is P(< 3 people have gene) from a group of four people tested at random?

Use the fact that the possible outcome are mutually exclusive (ME)

= P(0) + P(1) + P(2)

= 0.041 + 0.2 + 0.368

= 0.609 [ to 3 decimal places ]

We can write this probability like this;

P(X>3)=?

609.045.0)55.0(4

)3(4

2

0

xx

x xXP

Binomial Question

There are two hospitals in a town. In Hospital A, 10 babies are born each day, in Hospital B there are 30 babies born each day. If the hospitals only count those days on which over 70% of babies born are girls, and assuming the probability that a girl is born is ½, which of the two hospitals will record more such days?

Hospital A: Binomial (n=10, p=0.5)

Hospital B: Binomial (n=30, p=0.5)

Answer

Hospital 1:

Calculate :

Hospital 2 :

Calculate :

There is a higher probability of getting 70% of babies born being girl from hospital 1.

0.17188 0.8281251

)( - 1 7)P(X6

0

i

ixXP

0.02139 0.9786131

)( - 1 21)P(X20

0

i

ixXP

Binomial Question

A flu virus hits a company employing 180 people.

Independent of other employees , there is a

probability p=0.35 that each person needs to take

sick leave. What is the expectation and variance of

the proportion of the workforce who needs to take

sick leave. In general what is the value of the sick

rate p that produces the largest variance for this

proportion.

Poisson Probability

Many experiments don't have a simple success/failure response

Responses can be the number of events occurring over time, area, volume etc.

We don't know the number of 'failures' just the number of successes.

Example: The number of calls to a telesales company

- we know how many calls got through (successes)

- but don't know how many failed (lines busy etc.)

Knowledge of the mean number of events over time etc => Poisson Random Variable

Events must occur randomly

Poisson Probability Distribution

Probability Distribution for Poisson

Where λ is the known mean:

x is the value of the RV with possible values 0,1,2,3,….

e = irrational constant (like ) with value 2.71828…

The standard deviation , , is given by the simple relationship;

=

!)(

x

exXP

x

Example: Bombing of London WW2

1944 German V1 rockets feel on London

Were they aimed at specific targets or falling

randomly?

Important in AA strategy & Civil Defence

Divide London into

a 24 24 grid of

equal sizes (576

equal square areas).


If rockets are random => should fall according to Poisson random variable per square

(mean) = No. of Bombs/ No of squares

= 535/576

= 0.9288

So, for a particular square (assuming randomness)

Where x is the number of bombs landing in the square on the map grid.

!

)9288.0()(

9288.0

x

exXP

x

003.0997.01

)4()3()2()1()0(1)4(

012.0!4

9288.0)4(

053.0!3

9288.0)3(

170.0!2

9288.0)2(

367.0!1

9288.0)1(

395.0!0

9288.0)0(

49288.0

39288.0

29288.0

19288.0

09288.0

XPXPXPXPXPXP

eXP

eXP

eXP

eXP

eXP


Prediction from Poisson so good => British concluded rockets were not being

aimed at specific targets - were falling randomly on London

X = no. of

rockets

P(x) 576 p(x)

0 0.395 228

1 0.367 211

2 0.170 98

3 0.053 31

4 0.012 7

> 4 (i.e. 5+) 0.003 2

Actual no. of

squares Hit

229

211

93

35

7

1

Other Basic Discrete Probability Distributions

Geometric – No. of independent trials to first success.

Negative Binomial - No. of independent trials to

first, second, third fourth… success.

Hypergeometric – lottery type experiments.

many others….

Question

The number of cracks in a ceramic tile has a Poisson

distribution with a mean λ = 2.4.

What is the probability that a tile has no cracks?

What is the probability that a tile has four or more

cracks?

probability and statstical inference 2

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