Final answer:
The three components of a discrete trial are a fixed number of trials, only two possible outcomes whose probabilities sum to one, and that the trials must be independent and conducted under identical conditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The components of a discrete trial in the context of probability and statistics are as follows:
- There must be a fixed number of trials, meaning the experiment or process is conducted a certain number of times.
- Only two possible outcomes should exist for each trial, commonly referred to as 'success' and 'failure'. The probabilities of these outcomes must add up to one.
- The trials should be independent, which means the outcome of one trial does not affect the outcome of another. Additionally, the trials should be conducted under identical conditions to ensure consistency
As an example, consider flipping a coin. Each flip represents a trial, there are two possible outcomes (heads or tails), and each flip is independent of the others. However, if we were to flip a coin an indeterminate number of times, the criteria would not be met, as there would not be a fixed number of trials.