The probability a student will drop an online course is 40%. in a class of 20, what is the probability that more than 5 students will drop the course?

The situation in the above question describes a binomial distribution.

In probability theory and statistics, the binomial distribution with parameters n (sample size) and p (probability of success) is the discrete probability distribution of the number of successes in a sequence of n independent experiments having two possible outcomes, for instance asking a yes–no question.

The binomial probability of an event (X) occuring is given by

where n is the sample size, p is the predetemined success probability and q is the failure probability given by q = 1 - p.

Given that the probability a student will drop an online course is 40%. This means that our probability of success is 40% or 0.4 and the probability of failure is 1 - 0.4 = 0.6

Given that the size of the class is 20, this means that n = 20.

The probability that more than 5 students will drop the course given by



Thus, 


Therefore, the probability that more than 5 students will drop the course is about 86%.