The memoryless property of the exponential distribution describes the fact that:
A) the equations associated with the exponential distribution are so difficult that rarely can anyone remember how to calculate probability without help.
B) at any point in time, the exponential random variable forgets or ignores what happened earlier; the future is independent of the past.
C) the probability associated with any one span of time is dependent upon the span of time that preceded it.
D) the exponential distribution is the only distribution that exhibits an inverse relationship concerning the past.In other words, the more time that precedes an event, the greater the probability of present occurrence.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The memoryless property of the exponential distribution means that the probability of an event occurring within a certain span of time is independent of how much time has passed before that span. This means that the exponential random variable "forgets" or "ignores" what happened before and the future is not influenced by the past. Option A is not correct because the difficulty of calculations has nothing to do with the memoryless property. Option C is not correct because the probability of an event is not dependent on the span of time that preceded it. Option D is not correct because many other distributions exhibit an inverse relationship between the present and past events.

The Memoryless Property of the Exponential Distribution Describes the Fact