Binomial data are based on the existence of only two mutually-exclusive outcomes (or categories). These two outcomes are commonly referred to in statistics as successes and failures. In industry applications, the most common application of the binomial distribution is counting the number of defective (or good) items in a sample in order to determine a process yield. The binomial distribution is the probability distribution upon which p charts and np control charts are based.

Use: The binomial distribution is used in a binomial experiment. See binomial experiment for more details.

Six Sigma Terminology