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I'm trying to understand when I can use the binomial distribution. I have searched some examples online and I'm wondering if I can use them in this situation:

  • if we had a deck of 20 cards and we choose a hand of four cards and recorded the number on aces, i.e. the number of aces in a hand of four cards - I think no, because the probability of success varies depending on the hand - is this a valid reason?

  • The number of throws of a fair coin until the first head is obtained

I also think no here because I'm not sure how to define "n" here - could someone explain this one to me?

M.G
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john63
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    You are right in both cases. Binomial distribution only works, if we make identical experiments and count how often some event occurs. And the probability, that the event occurs, must be the same for all those experiments. And the experiments must also be independent. – Peter Jan 27 '15 at 13:00
  • Valid examples : The number of "heads" in a sequence of $n$ coin-tosses, the number of twos in a sequence of $n$ dice-rolls, etc. – Peter Jan 27 '15 at 13:03
  • Please refer to the following link: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/986209/when-to-use-binomial-or-neg-binomial/986225#986225 – heropup Jan 27 '15 at 13:12

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