The Flat Line of Probability

The Continuous Uniform Distribution describes a scenario where a random variable can take any value within a specific interval [a,b][a, b], and all sub-intervals of the same length are equally probable.

f(x)={1bafor axb0otherwisef(x) = \begin{cases} \frac{1}{b-a} & \text{for } a \le x \le b \\ 0 & \text{otherwise} \end{cases}

Parameters and Properties

  • aa: The minimum possible value.
  • bb: The maximum possible value.
  • Mean (E[X]E[X]): a+b2\frac{a+b}{2}
  • Variance (Var(X)Var(X)): (ba)212\frac{(b-a)^2}{12}
Intuition
The Geometry of Probability

Why is the height of the PDF exactly 1ba\frac{1}{b-a}? Remember that for any continuous distribution, the total area under the probability density curve must equal exactly 1 (100%). Since the Uniform distribution forms a rectangle with width (ba)(b-a), its height must be 1ba\frac{1}{b-a} so that Width×Height=(ba)×1ba=1\text{Width} \times \text{Height} = (b-a) \times \frac{1}{b-a} = 1.

Advanced Practice

Example 1: The Commuter Train

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A commuter train arrives at a station exactly every 15 minutes. A passenger arrives at the station at a completely random time. What is the probability that the passenger has to wait more than 10 minutes for the next train?

Example 2: Conditional Wait

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Using the same commuter train (arriving every 15 minutes), suppose the passenger has already waited 5 minutes and the train hasn't arrived. What is the probability that they will have to wait at least 5 more minutes?