MAT 2379, Introduction to Biostatistics

Midterm Formula Sheet

Addition Rule: P (A B) = P (A) + P (B) P (A B)

Conditional probability of A given B:

P (A B)
P (A|B) =
P (B)

Let E1 , E2 , . . . , Ek be a partition of the sample space (i.e. they are

mutually exclusive and exhaustive). We have the Total probability rule:

P (A) = P (A|E1 )P (E1 ) + P (A|E2 )P (E2 ) + + P (A|Ek )P (Ek ).

Bayes rule:
P (A|B)P (B)
P (B|A) =
P (A)
Diagnostic tests:

false-positive-rate = P (Test + |True)

false-negative-rate = P (Test |True+)
specificity = P (Test |True)
sensitivity = P (Test + |True+)
positive predictive value = P (True + |Test+)
negative predictive value = P (True |Test)

Events A and B are independent if P (A B) = P (A)P (B)

Expected value of a discrete random variable X:

X
= E(X) = xf (x), where f (x) = P (X = x)
x

1
 Variance of a discrete random variable X:

2 = Var(X) = (x)2 f (x) = x2 f (x)2 ,

X X
where f (x) = P (X = x)
x x

Cumulative distribution function of a random variable X:

F (x) = P (X x)

If X is a binomial random variable with n trials and probability p of success,

then !
n
P (X = k) = pk (1 p)nk , k = 0, 1, . . . , n,
k
where !
n n!
= and n! = 1 2 3 n
k k!(n k)!
Furthermore,

E[X] = n p and Var[X] = n p (1 p).

Standardization: If X is a normal random variable with mean and vari-

ance 2 , then
X
Z= has a standard normal distribution

Sample mean of the observations x1 , . . . , xn :

n
1X
x = xi
n i=1

Sample variance of the observations x1 , . . . , xn :

!2
n n n n
!
1 X 1 1 X 1 X
s2 = (xi x)2 = x2i nx2 = x2i
X
xi
n 1 i=1 n 1 i=1 n 1 i=1 n i=1

2
 To calculate the quartiles, we arrange the data x1 , x2 . . . , xn in ascending
order:
y1 y2 . . . yn

a) The median is given by:

(
y(n+1)/2 ,  if n is odd
xe = 
yn/2 + yn/2+1 /2, if n is even.

b) To compute the first quartile, we write

n+1 a
=r+ , r = integer, a = 0, 1, 2 or 3.
4 4
The first quartile is:


yr , if (n + 1)/4 = r
(0.75) yr + (0.25) yr+1 , if (n + 1)/4 = r + 1/4


q1 =


(0.5) yr + (0.5) yr+1 , if (n + 1)/4 = r + 2/4
(0.25) yr + (0.75) yr+1 , if (n + 1)/4 = r + 3/4

c) To compute the third quartile, we write

3(n + 1) a
=r+ , r = integer, a = 0, 1, 2 or 3.
4 4
The third quartile is:


yr , if (3(n + 1)/4 = r
(0.75) yr + (0.25) yr+1 , if 3(n + 1)/4 = r + 1/4


q3 =
(0.5) yr + (0.5) yr+1 ,
if 3(n + 1)/4 = r + 2/4

(0.25) yr + (0.75) yr+1 , if 3(n + 1)/4 = r + 3/4