Documentation/How Tos/Calc: HYPGEOMDIST function

HYPGEOMDIST

Calculates values for a hypergeometric distribution.

Syntax:

HYPGEOMDIST(x; n; M; N)

The hypergeometric distribution is a discrete probability distribution giving the probability of x successes in a sequence of n draws (without replacement) from a finite population of size N which contains M successes.

HYPGEOMDIST calculates the probability density function of the hypergeometric distribution:

which is

Example:

HYPGEOMDIST(2; 3; 3; 6)

returns 0.45. If an urn contains 3 red balls and 3 green balls, the probability that 2 red balls will be selected after 3 draws without replacement is 27/60 = 0.45.

Issues:

• The forthcoming international standard ODFF adds an extra parameter to this function, allowing the possibility to calculate the cumulative distribution function.