Question 1190078: I would really appreciate any help!
Would you use a binomial, geometric, or hypergeometric distribution to find the following?
A. The number of trucks a weigh station will inspect before finding one that is overloaded.
B. The number of expeditions that will reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro this year
Answer by math_tutor2020(3817)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Part A
You'll use a geometric probability distribution here.
This is because we want to find the probability of the first success.
More specifically, we want the probability when the first truck is overloaded (is it truck #1? truck #2? truck #3? etc)
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Part B
We use a binomial distribution here.
Define "success" as "reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro". Either a climber reaches the peak, or they don't.
We have two outcomes per trial. Assume that the probability of success on any given trial is the same. Also, assume that no single climber affects any other climber (i.e. assume the trials to be independent). All of these conditions are needed to use the binomial distribution.
The binomial distribution will then allow us to make a table of X and P(X) values, where X is the number of successes (0,1,2,3,...).
The list of all P(X) probabilities must add to 1, and each P(X) must be bound by the interval 
Once the table is formed, you can then circle the row with the largest P(X) value to get an idea of the most likely outcome.
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