Contributed by: The White Rabbit
Suppose that an experiment can have only 2 possible outcomes. This is known as a Bernoulli trial. In general the outcomes are success or failure.
If P is the probability of success, and q is the probability of
failure then p+q=1
Many Problems can be solved by determining the probability of k
successes when an experiment consists of n independent Bernoulli trials.
What we want to know is what is the probability of a success (female) given a certain number of experiments (seeds).
Probability of k successes in n independent bernoulli trials with
success as p and failure as q=1-p
We will use a 50/50 success failure ratio, so p=.5 and q=.5
Probability of K successes = c(n,k)p^k q^(n-k)
where;
C(n,k) = n!/r!(n-r)!
and n! is ‘n factorial’.
for example: 6! = 654321
: 3! = 32*1
Probability of 1 success w/ 6 seeds is 9.3%
Probability of 2 success w/ 6 seeds is 23.4%
Probability of 3 success w/ 6 seeds is 31.25%
Probability of 4 success w/ 6 seeds is 23.4%
Probability of 5 success w/ 6 seeds is 9.3%
Probability of 6 success w/ 6 seeds is 1.563%
The sum of these gives the probability of getting at least
1 female from 6 seeds with 50% male female ratio is approx 98%.
Now it is easier to find this by taking an alternate route. Simply calculate
the probability of failure. That is the probability of 0 successes and subtracting that from 1.
i.e. probability of 0 success w/ 6 seeds is 1.563%
so probability of at least 1 success is 98.43%
So the final equation we need is:
1 - C(n,0) * p^0 * q^(n-0)
SO probability of at least 1 female plant:
1 seed: 50%
2 seed: 75%
3 seed: 87.5%
4 seed: 93.75%
5 seed: 96.875%
6 seed: 98.43%
This example used a (50/50) male female ratio, but bernoulli trials allow
insertion of different p’s and q’s for different male/female
ratio’s like (60/40) or whatnot. just make sure that p+q=1
in other words the probability of success plus failure = 100%.
Modification of this concept can answer different questions just use creativity!