Distribution of balls in a box (with a twist)

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the concept of describing the distribution of two different colored balls, red and blue, in a box, where each color has a distinct size distribution. The total probability distribution function (PDF_total) is calculated as a weighted average of the individual PDFs for red and blue balls, specifically using the formula: PFD_total = (num_red/total_num) * PDF_red + (num_blue/total_num) * PDF_blue. This results in a mixture distribution that combines the characteristics of both color distributions into a single representation, allowing for random selection without color bias.

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  • Knowledge of mixture distributions in statistics
  • Familiarity with weighted averages
  • Basic concepts of random sampling
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  • Learn how to calculate weighted averages in various contexts
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Statisticians, data scientists, and anyone interested in probability theory and distribution analysis will benefit from this discussion.

Apteronotus
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Suppose I have an box (set) containing two different colored balls, red and blue, say.

Now, suppose the balls differ in size, where the size of the red balls has one particular distribution and those of the blue another.

How can we describe the distribution of the balls in the box?
 
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Your description is confusing. What has size got to do with the distribution?
 
Apteronotus said:
Suppose I have an box (set) containing two different colored balls, red and blue, say.

Now, suppose the balls differ in size, where the size of the red balls has one particular distribution and those of the blue another.

How can we describe the distribution of the balls in the box?
It's a weighted average of the PDF_red and PDF_blue, with weights proportional to the fraction of each color:

PFD_total = (num_red/total_num) * PDF_red + (num_blue/total_num) * PDF_blue
 
mathman said:
Your description is confusing. What has size got to do with the distribution?

I'm interested in the distribution of the sizes.
 
FactChecker said:
It's a weighted average of the PDF_red and PDF_blue, with weights proportional to the fraction of each color:

PFD_total = (num_red/total_num) * PDF_red + (num_blue/total_num) * PDF_blue

So would it be a "mixed distribution"?
 
Apteronotus said:
So would it be a "mixed distribution"?

It is a single distribution where a ball can be picked at random by a blind person and it would give the probability distribution of the size, without knowing the color. It combines the two distributions into one.
 
Apteronotus said:
So would it be a "mixed distribution"?
Yes. That is called a "mixture distribution".
 

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