HYPGEOMDIST function

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Returns the hypergeometric distribution. HYPGEOMDIST returns the probability of a given number of sample successes, given the sample size, population successes, and population size. Use HYPGEOMDIST for problems with a finite population, where each observation is either a success or a failure, and where each subset of a given size is chosen with equal likelihood.

 Important   This function has been replaced with one or more new functions that may provide improved accuracy and whose names better reflect their usage. Although this function is still available for backward compatibility, you should consider using the new functions from now on, because this function may not be available in future versions of Excel.

For more information about the new function, see HYPGEOM.DIST function.

Syntax

HYPGEOMDIST(sample_s,number_sample,population_s,number_pop)

The HYPGEOMDIST function syntax has the following arguments (argument: A value that provides information to an action, an event, a method, a property, a function, or a procedure.):

• Sample_s     Required. The number of successes in the sample.
• Number_sample     Required. The size of the sample.
• Population_s     Required. The number of successes in the population.
• Number_pop     Required. The population size.

Remarks

• All arguments are truncated to integers.
• If any argument is nonnumeric, HYPGEOMDIST returns the #VALUE! error value.
• If sample_s < 0 or sample_s is greater than the lesser of number_sample or population_s, HYPGEOMDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
• If sample_s is less than the larger of 0 or (number_sample - number_population + population_s), HYPGEOMDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
• If number_sample ≤ 0 or number_sample > number_population, HYPGEOMDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
• If population_s ≤ 0 or population_s > number_population, HYPGEOMDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
• If number_population ≤ 0, HYPGEOMDIST returns the #NUM! error value.
• The equation for the hypergeometric distribution is:

where:

x = sample_s

n = number_sample

M = population_s

N = number_population

HYPGEOMDIST is used in sampling without replacement from a finite population.

Example

A sampler of chocolates contains 20 pieces. Eight pieces are caramels, and the remaining 12 are nuts. If a person selects 4 pieces at random, the following function returns the probability that exactly 1 piece is a caramel.

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

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