Random Variables

• Statistical experiments - processes

that generate a set of data.
• Random experiments - experiments
whose outcomes cannot be predicted.
• Sample space - set of all possible
outcomes of an experiment.
• Sample point - an element of sample
space.
• Event - a subset of a sample space.
Determine the sample space for the give
experiments:
1. Tossing two coin
2. Tossing a die
3. Tossing a coin and a die
4. Choosing a card from an ordinary deck of
playing cards
 Probability - a measure of how likely a
particular event will occur.
n
P ( A) 
N
Where:
n is the number of sample points in event.
N is the number of sample points in the entire
sample space.
Example:
1. In tossing two coins, what is the probability of
getting exactly one head?
2. In tossing a die, What is the probability of
obtaining a number less than 5?
3. In tossing a coin and a die, what is the
probability of getting a head?
4. In choosing a card from an ordinary deck of
playing cards, what is the probability of getting a
card from the heart suit?
Addition Rule of
Mutually exclusive - if they cannot occur the same time;
Probability
that is, they have no common outcomes.
• When two events A and B are mutually exclusive, the
probability that A and B will occur is given by
 P(A∪B) = P(A) + P(B)
• When two events A and B are not mutually exclusive,
one of the probabilities of the common outcomes must
be subtracted since it has been calculated twice.
 P(A∪B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A ∩ B)
Example:
1. In tossing a die, what is the probability of
obtaining an even number or an odd number?
2. In drawing a card from an ordinary deck of
cards, what is the probability of getting a heart
card or a king card?
Complement of an event - the set of outcomes
in the sample space that are not included in the
outcome of event A.
P(A) + P(A') =1

Example: Suppose that the probability of

choosing a grade 11 student from the senior high
school division in a certain school is 0.67. What is
the probability of choosing a studemt who does
not belong to grade 11?
Random Variable - a variable whose
possible values are determined by chance. A
random variable is typically represented by
an uppercase letter, ussually X, while its
corresponding lowercase letter in this case,
x, is used to represent one of its values.
Examples

1 2 3

W = the Y = the Z = weight (in

number of number of mg) of a
heads that king cards powder that
may be getting 5 does not
obtained in cards from an exceed 80mg
tossing a coin ordinary deck
and a die
 Types of Random Variable

Discrete Random Continuous

Variable Random Variable

A discrete random variable can A continuous random variable

only take a finite(countable) can assume an infinite number
number of distinct values. The of values in an interval
values are exact and can be between two specific values.
represented by nonnegative These values are often results
whole numbers of measurements.
Examples:

1
X: Number of women among 10 newly hired
teachers
2
Y: Height (in inches) of a randomly selected
adult male
3
Z: Number of car accidents among 8 selected
cities
4
A: Amount of rainfall (in mm) in the different
cities in Metro Manila
Discrete Probability Distribution
Discrete probability distribution - a table
showing all the possible values of discrete
random variable together with their
corresponding probabilities.

Properties:
If X is a random variable with n elements, then
1. Each of the probabilities, P(x), has a value
which range from 0 through 1.
2. The sum of the probabilities P(x1) + P(x1) +
P(x ) + ... + P(x ) = ∑P(x) = 1
Examples:
1. Two coins are tossed. Let x be the number of
heads. Obtain the probability mass function of
X.

2. Write the probability distribution of a

random variable R representing the number of
red balls when 3 balls are drawn in succession
without replacement from a jar containing 4
red and 5 blue balls.
Examples:
4. Construct the probability distribution of Z
representing the possible outcome when
tossing a two fair dice.

5. Construct the Probability distribution of Q

representing the sum of two numbers taken
separately from two boxes containing 0, 1, 2,
and 3.
Mean of a Discrete Random
Variable
The mean of a discrete random variable X is also called
the expected value of X. It is the weighted average of
all the values that the random variable X would
assumes in the long run.
The mean or expected value of a discrete random
variable X is computed using the following formula:
E ( X )  xP(x)
where X = discrete random variable
x = outcome or value of the random
variable
P(x) = Probability of the outcome x
Example
s:
1. A researcher serveyed the households in a
small town. The random variable X represents
the number of college graduates in the
households. The probability distribution of X is
shown below.
x 0 1 2
P(x) 0.25 0.50 0.25

Find the mean or expected value of X

Example
s:
2. What is the mean outcome if a fair die is
rolled?

3. Xander is paid 20 Php whenever the results

of tossing two coins are both heads but pays
10 Php whenever the results are not both
heads. What is his expected gain per toss?

4.What is the expected value if a number is

picked from a jar cntaining two 1s, three 2s,
Example
s:
5. The random variable X, representing the
number of nuts in a chocolate bar has the
following probability distribution compute the
mean.
x 0 1 2 3 4
P(x) 1/10 3/10 3/10 2/10 1/10
Variance and Standard Deviation
of a Discrete Random Variable
The variance of a random variable X is denoted σ2. It
likewise written as Var (X).

The variance of a discrete random variable X is

computed using the following formula:

  (x -  ) P(x)
2 2

where x = outcome or value of the random

variable
μ = Population mean
P(x) = Probability of the outcome x
The standard deviation of a random variable X is
denoted σ.

The standard deviation of a discrete random variable X

is computed using the following formula:

  (x -  ) 2
P(x)
Examples:
1.) From the experiment above, we can
use x to represent the tiled number, and
change the “number of times picked” to
P(x) by diving each of its value by 15, thus
the table becomes:
x P(x)
1 2/15
2 4/15
3 8/15
4 1/15
Examples:
2. The probability distribution below shows the number
of typing errors (x) and the probability p(x) of
committing these errors whenever clerks type-in a
document. Compute the variance and standard
y 0 1 2 3 4 5
deviation.
P(y) 0.02 0.11 0.42 0.31 0.10 0.04

3. The probability distribution below shows the random

variable and the probability of tossing a die. What is the
variancezand standard
1 2 deviation?
3 4 5 6
P(z) 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6
Examples:
4. What is the variance of the results if a
number is drawn from a jar containing
numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6?

5. By investing in a particular stock,

Florence can make ＄ 40 in a month with a
probability of 0.2 or take a loss of ＄ 10
with a probability of 0.8. What is the
variance and standard deviation?
 Problems Involving Mean and
Variance of Probablity Distribution
Examples:
1. A school organized a fund-raising
activity for its donations to victims of a
recent typhoon. It involves selling of 1000
raffle tickets. One ticket cost ₱100. The
lone winner of this raffle will receive free
tuition worth ₱30,000. What is your
expected net gain if you buy one raffle
ticket?
Examples:
2. A life insurance policy gives a benefit of
₱2,000,000 for death caused by an
accident, ₱1,000,000 for death due to other
causes, ₱500,000 for permanent disability,
and no benefits when there are no deaths or
permanent disability. In the event of death,
a person who had already applied for
permanent disability benefits would no
longer be entitled to the death benefit.
Based on the past experience of the
Examples:

a ₱2,000,0 ₱1,000,000 ₱500,00 0

00 0
P(a 0.0002 0.0008 0.001 0.998
Find
) the expected amount of A.
Examples:
3. A box contains balls numbered 1 through
5. You are to draw a ball from the box and
you will be paid 12 chips if the number is
even. However, you are going to pay 7
chips if the number is odd. What is standard
deviation of the possible results?

4. What is the variance if a number is

picked from a jar containing two 2s, three
4s, and five 6s?