What was the age distribution of nurses in Great Britain at the time of Florence Nightingale? Thanks to Florence Nightingale and the British census of 1851, we have the following information (based on data from classic text Notes on Nursing, by Florence Nightingale). Note: In 1851 there were 25,466 nurses in Great Britain. Furthermore, Nightingale made a strict distinction between nurses and domestic servants. Find the probability that a British nurse selected at random in 1851 would be 70 years of age or older. Round your answer to nearest thousandth. Age range (yr) 20–29 30–39 40–49 50–59 60–69 70–79 80+ Midpoint (x) 24.5 34.5 44.5 54.5 64.5 75.5 84.5 Percent of nurses 5.7% 9.7% 19.5% 29.2% 25.0% 9.1% 1.8%
Continuous Probability Distributions
Probability distributions are of two types, which are continuous probability distributions and discrete probability distributions. A continuous probability distribution contains an infinite number of values. For example, if time is infinite: you could count from 0 to a trillion seconds, billion seconds, so on indefinitely. A discrete probability distribution consists of only a countable set of possible values.
Normal Distribution
Suppose we had to design a bathroom weighing scale, how would we decide what should be the range of the weighing machine? Would we take the highest recorded human weight in history and use that as the upper limit for our weighing scale? This may not be a great idea as the sensitivity of the scale would get reduced if the range is too large. At the same time, if we keep the upper limit too low, it may not be usable for a large percentage of the population!
| Age |
20–29 |
30–39 |
40–49 |
50–59 |
60–69 |
70–79 |
80+ |
| Midpoint (x) |
24.5 |
34.5 |
44.5 |
54.5 |
64.5 |
75.5 |
84.5 |
| Percent of nurses |
5.7% |
9.7% |
19.5% |
29.2% |
25.0% |
9.1% |
1.8% |
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