AI engineering glossary · Probability
What is geometric distribution?
Geometric distribution: The distribution of the number of independent trials needed to get the first success when each trial succeeds with probability p: P(k) = (1 - p)^(k - 1) p. Its mean is 1 / p. It models waiting for a first event.
Geometric distribution: an example
If a sales call converts with probability 0.1, the average number of calls until the first sale is 1 / 0.1 = 10.
Related terms
More Probability terms
- Importance sampling
- Independence
- Intersection of events
- Inverse transform sampling
- Joint distribution
- Joint probability
- KL divergence
- Law of large numbers
Where you learn it
Geometric distribution is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.