Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Regional Office IX, Zamboanga Peninsula

11 Zest for Progress

Z Peal of artnership

Statistics and Probability

Quarter 3 - Module 2:
Computing the Mean and Variance of a
Discrete Probability Distribution

Name of Learner: ___________________________

Grade & Section: ___________________________
Name of School: ___________________________
 What I Need to Know
The module contains only one lesson:
 Lesson 2 – Computing the Mean and Variance of a Discrete Probability
Distribution

After studying this module, you will be able to:

1. compute probabilities corresponding to a given random variable.

2. illustrate the mean and variance of a discrete random variable.
3. Calculate the mean and variance of a discrete random variable.

What I Know
Directions: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. What is the probability that two Heads will occur in tossing a fair coin thrice?
A. ½ B. C. D.

2. Which is NOT true about the probability of all the values of a discrete random
variable?
A. The probability of each value must be between 0 and 1
B. The sum of the probabilities is equal to 1
C. The probability of the value could be zero
D. The value of a random variable could be zero

3. Which is used to describe the amount of spread, dispersion, or variability of the

items in a distribution?
A. Mean
B. Variance
C. Standard Deviation
D. Variance and Standard Deviation

4. What is the first step in finding the variance of a discrete probability distribution?
A. Calculate the standard deviation
B. Find the mean of the probability distribution
C. Subtract the mean from each value of the random variable X
D. Multiply the square of the difference of X and the mean by each value of the
random variable.

5. Which is NOT a possible value of a random variable, if two coins are tossed?
A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. 3

6. What are the possible values of X to be a probability distribution if P(X) = ?

A. 0, 2, 3 B. 1, 2, 3 C. 2, 3, 4 D. 1, 1, 2
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 For items 7-10, refer to the probability distribution below:

X 1 2 3 4 5
P(X) 0.08 0.21 0.43 0.23 0.05

7. What is the mean of the probability distribution?

A. 1.95 B. 1.96 C. 2.95 D. 2.96

8. Which is the variance of the probability distribution?

A. 0.96 B. 9.6 C. 0.096 D. 9.06

9. What is the standard deviation of the probability distribution?

A. 0.97 B. 0.98 C. 0.99 D. 0.998

10. Which statement is true about the mean of the probability distribution?
A. It tells us the average of the items in a distribution.
B. It shows how far apart the elements of the set are spread out.
C. It describes the amount of variability of the items in a distribution.
D. It describes the amount of spread and dispersion of the items in a
distribution.

What’s In

Activity 1. Fair Choice

Directions: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
Consider the situation below and answer the questions that follow:

Toss a fair coin twice. Let X be the random variable representing the
number of tails that occur.

1. Which is the correct sample space for tossing a fair of coin twice?
A. { H,T} B. { HH,HT,TT } C. { HH,HT,TH, TT } D. { HH, TT }

2. What are the possible values that the random variable X can take?
A. 1, 2 B. 0, 1, 2 C. 0, 1 D. 1, 2, 3

3. What is the probability that two Tails will occur in a toss?

A. ¼ B. ½ C. 1/5 D. 2/3

4. What is the probability that one tail will occur in a toss?

A. ¼ B. ½ C. 1/5 D. 2/3

5. What is the sum of the probabilities of all the values of the random variable X?
A. ½ B. less than 1 C. 0 D. 1

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 What’s New

Activity 2: Make Me Complete

Direction: Complete the table below by finding the product of X and the probability of X.

X P(X) X.P(X)
1 ⁄ 1)_________

6 ⁄ 2)_________

11 ⁄ 3)_________

16 ⁄ 4)_________

21 ⁄ 5)_________

TOTAL 6)_________

What is it

Computing the Mean and Variance of a Discrete Probability

Distribution

The mean of the probability distribution

The mean of a discrete random variable X is a weighted average of the possible

values that the random variable can take. Unlike the sample mean of a group of
observations, which gives each observation equal weight, the mean of a random variable
weights each outcome xi according to its probability, pi. The common symbol for the
mean (also known as the expected value of X) is µ. The mean of a random variable with
a discrete probability distribution is:
µ = X1 . P(X1) + X2 . P(X2) + X3 . P(X3) + …, + Xn . P(Xn) or
µ=∑
where:
X1, X2, X3, …, Xn are the values of the random variable X; and P(X1),P(X2),P(X3),…,P(Xn)
are the corresponding probabilities.

To find the mean, we need to establish a valid probability distribution. To

determine if the distribution is a valid probability distribution, we must satisfy the two
properties for the probability distribution of a discrete random variable which are as

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follows: (1) the probability of each outcome is between 0 and 1, and (2) the sum of all the
probabilities is equal to 1.

Example 1: Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement from an urn
containing 5 red balls and 6 blue balls. Let Z be the random variable representing the
number of blue balls.

A. Find the values of the random variable Z.

B. Construct probability distribution for the variable Z.

Solution:

Steps Solution
1. Determine the sample
space. Let B represent the
blue balls and R for red S ={ RR, RB, BR, BB }
balls.
2. Count the number of blue Possible Value of
balls in each outcome in Outcome Variable Z
the sample space and RR 0
assign this number to this RB 1
outcome. BR 1
BB 2

3. There are three possible values of the

random variable Z representing the number of
blue balls. (0, 1, 2 ). Assign probability values Number of Probability
P(Z) to each value of the random variable. Blue Balls P(Z)
 There are 4 possible outcomes and no Z
blue ball occurs once, so the probability
that we shall assign to the random
variable 0 is ¼. 0 ¼
 There are 4 possible outcomes and 1
blue ball occurs two times, so the
probability that we shall assign to the 1 ½
variable 1 is ½.
 There are 4 possible outcomes and 2
blue ball occurs two times, so the 2 ¼
probability that we shall assign to the
variable 2 is ¼ .

The Probability Distribution of Discrete Variable Z

Number of Blue
Probability P(Z)
Balls (Z)
0 ¼
1 ½
2 ¼
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 In the above distribution, the probabilities ¼ , ½ , and ¼ are all between 0 and 1,
and when we check the sum of the probabilities, we could observe that the sum is 1.
Thus, the above distribution is a valid probability distribution for the discrete random
variable.

In order to compute for the mean of a discrete random variable, we need to follow
the following steps:
Step 1: Construct the probability distribution for the random variable.
Step 2: Multiply the value of the random variable (X) by the corresponding probability.
Step 3: Add the result obtained in step 2.

Example 2. What is the average number of spots that would appear in rolling a die?

Solution:

Steps Solution
1. Construct the Number of spots Probability P(X)
probability distribution 1 ⁄
for the random variable 2 ⁄
X representing the 3 ⁄
number of spots that
4 ⁄
would come out.
5 ⁄
6 ⁄

2. Multiply the value of Number of Probability X . P(X)

the random variable X Spots P(X)
by the corresponding 1 ⁄ ⁄
probability. 2 ⁄ ⁄
3 ⁄ ⁄
4 ⁄ ⁄
5 ⁄ ⁄
6 ⁄ ⁄

3. Add the results Number of Probability X . P(X)

obtained in Step 2. Spots P(X)
1 ⁄ ⁄
2 ⁄ ⁄
3 ⁄ ⁄
4 ⁄ ⁄
5 ⁄ ⁄
6 ⁄ ⁄
∑ = 21/6 = 3.5

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 The value obtained in Step 3 is called the mean of the random variable X or the
mean of the probability distribution of X. The mean which is 3.5 tells us the average
number of spots that would appear in a roll of a die.

Example 3. The probabilities that a doctor operates on 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 patients in any

day are 0.15, 0.10, 0.20, 0.25, and 0.30, respectively. A) What is the probability that a
doctor operates more than 5 patients in a day? B) Find the average number of patients
that a doctor operates on a day.

Solution:

A) P(X > 5) = P( X = 6) + P(X = 7)

= 0.25 + 0.30
= 0.55

B) Finding the Average

Steps Solution
1. Construct the Number of Patients (X) Probability P(X)
probability distribution. 3 0.15
4 0.10
5 0.20
6 0.25
7 0.30

2. Multiply the value of Number of Patients Probability X . P(X)

the random variable X (X) P(X)
by the corresponding 3 0.15 0.45
probability. 4 0.10 0.40
5 0.20 1.00
6 0.25 1.50
7 0.30 2.10

3. Add the results Number of Spots(X) Probability X . P(X)

obtained in Step 2. P(X)
3 0.15 0.45
4 0.10 0.40
5 0.20 1.00
6 0.25 1.50
7 0.30 2.10
∑ = 5.45

So, the average number of patients that a doctor operates in a day is 5.45.

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The variance of the probability distribution

The variance of a set of numbers measures how far apart the elements of the set are
spread out.

A variance of zero indicates that all the values are identical. Variance is always
nonnegative: A small variance indicates that the data points tend to be very close to the
mean (expected value) and to each other, whereas a high variance indicates that the data
points are very spread out around the mean and from each other. The variance, together
with the standard deviation describe the amount of spread, dispersion, or variability of
the items in a distribution.

To calculate for the variance and standard deviation, follow the following
steps:

1. Find the mean of the probability distribution.

2. Subtract the mean from each value of the random variable X.
3. Square the results obtained in Step 2.
4. Multiply the results obtained in Step 3 by the corresponding
probability.
5. Get the sum of the results obtained in Step 4.

The variance of a discrete probability distribution is given by the formula:

2 = ∑ 𝑿 − µ 𝟐 .P(X)

The standard deviation of a discrete probability distribution is given by the

formula:

= ∑ 𝑿−µ 𝟐 𝐏 𝐗

Example 4. What is the variance of the outcome you would get from rolling a single six-
sided die?

Solution:

The first step here is to identify the sample space of rolling a single die.

{ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 }

Next, we need to construct the probability mass function.

X 1 2 3 4 5 6
P(x)

We are now ready to find the variance.

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Step 1: We find the mean using the formula:
µ = X1 . P(X1) + X2 . P(X2) + X3 . P(X3) + …, + Xn . P(Xn)

= 1( )+ 2( ) + 3( ) + 4( ) + 5( ) + 6( )

= + + + + +

=
µ = 3.5
Step 2: Subtract the mean from each value of the random variable X.
X P(X) X.P(X) X-µ
1 1-3.5 = -2.5

2 2–3.5 = -1.5

3 3–3.5 = -0.5

4 4-3.5 = 0.5

5 5-3.5 = 1.5

6 6-3.5 = 2.5

Step 3. Square the results obtained in Step 2.

X P(X) X.P(X) X-µ (X - µ)2
1 -2.5 6.25

2 -1.5 2.25

3 -0.5 0.25

4 0.5 0.25

5 1.5 2.25

6 2.5 6.26

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Step 4. Multiply the results obtained in Step 3 by the corresponding probability.
X P(X) X.P(X) X-µ (X - µ)2 (X - µ)2. P(X)
(-2.5)2 (6.25).(1/6)
1 -2.5
=6.25 = 1.042

2 -1.5 2.25 0.375

3 -0.5 0.25 0.042

4 0.5 0.25 0.042

5 1.5 2.25 0.375

6 2.5 6.25 1.042

Step 5. Get the sum of the results obtained in Step 4.

2 =∑ − µ .P(X) = 1.042 + 0.375 + 0.042 + 0.042 + 0.375 + 1.042
= 2.918
= 2.92
Thus, rolling a single six-sided die has a variance of 2.92.

Example 5. The number of adults living in homes on a randomly selected city block is
described by the following probability distribution:

No. of adult, X 1 2 3 4
P(X) 0.25 0.50 0.15 0.10

Calculate the mean, variance and standard deviation of the probability distribution.
Solution:
A. Find the mean

No. of X.P(X)
P(X)
adult, X
1 0.25 0.25
2 0.50 1.00
3 0.15 0.45
4 0.10 0.40

µ=∑ = 2.10

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 B. Find the variance

X P(X) X.P(X) X-µ (X - µ)2 (X - µ)2. P(X)

1 0.25 0.25 -1.10 1.21 0.3025

2 0.50 1.00 -0.10 0.01 0.005

3 0.15 0.45 0.90 0.81 0.1215

4 0.10 0.40 1.90 3.61 0.361

2 = ∑ − µ .P(X)
= 0.3025 + 0.005 + 0.1215 + 0.361
2 = 0.79

C. Find the standard deviation

∑ −µ =√

= 0.89

What’s More
Activity 3: You’re so Mean!

Directions: Identify if the following distribution is a valid probability distribution for a

discrete random variable. Put check ( ) if the distribution is valid and ( X ) if not valid.
Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

1. X 6 7 8 9
P(X) 0.24 0.06 0.43 0.26

2. X 1 2 3 5
P(X) 1/4 3/8 1/4 1/8

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 3. X 4 8 12 15 17
P(X) 1/5 1/8 1/8 1/5 1/8

4. X 0 2 4 6 8
P(X) 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/3 1/6

5. X 1 2 3 4
P(X) 2/5 1/5 1/5 5/25

A. Calculate the mean and variance by completing the table below.

X P(X) X.P(X) X-µ (X - µ)2 (X - µ)2. P(X)

3 0.15 (1)_____ -3.75 14.06 (6)________

6 0.35 2.10 -0.75 (3)______ 0.20

8 0.40 3.20 1.25 (4)______ (7)________

10 0.10 1.00 (2)______ (5)______ 1.06

Answer the following: Identification

8. What is the mean of the probability distribution? 8. Answer: _______

9. What is the variance of the probability distribution? 9. Answer:_______
10. What is the standard deviation of the probability distribution? 10. Answer: _____

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 What I Have Learned

Activity 4: All by Yourself!

Directions: Make a table similar to the one below and perform what is asked. Write your
answer on a separate sheet of paper.

Find the variance and standard deviation of the random variable X, which can
take only the values 3, 5, and 7, given that P(3) = , P(5) = , and P(7) = .

X P(X) X.P(X) X-µ (X - µ)2 (X - µ)2. P(X)

1.___ 4.___ 7.____ 10.____ 13._____ 16._____

2.___ 5.___ 8.___ 11.____ 14._____ 17._____

3.___ 6.___ 9.___ 12.____ 15._____ 18._____

19. Mean, µ= _____ 20. Variance, 2= ______ 21. Standard Deviation,

What I Can Do
Activity 5: You’re so Standard!

Directions: Consider the situation below and answer the questions that follow. Write
your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

A bakeshop owner determines the number of boxes of

pandesal that are delivered each day, as shown in a table below.

Number of Boxes Probability

(X) P(X)
35 0.10
36 0.20
37 0.30
38 0.30
39 0.10
1. What is the mean of the probability distribution?
2. What is the variance of the probability distribution?
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 3. What is the standard deviation of the probability distribution?
4. If the manager stated that 35 boxes of pandesal were delivered in one day, do
you think that this is a believable claim?

Assessment
Directions: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. Which is used to describe the average or expected value of the items in a discrete
probability distribution?

A) Mean B) Variance C) Standard Deviation D. Variable

2. What is the first step in finding the variance of a discrete probability distribution?

A) Calculate the standard deviation

B) Find the mean of the probability distribution
C) Subtract the mean from each value of the random variable X
D) Multiply the square of the difference of X and the mean by each value of the
random variable.

3. Which statement is NOT true about the variance of a discrete random variable?

A) Variance is always nonnegative.

B) It tells the average of the items in a discrete probability distribution
C) It measures how far apart the elements of the set are spread out
D) High variance indicates that the data points are very spread out around the
mean and from each other
For items 4 – 5, refer to the probability distribution below.

X 1 4 9 16
P(X) 0.40 0.07 ? 0.23

4. Which probability value would satisfy the given probability distribution?

A) 0.03 B) 0.47 C) 0.30 D) 0.27

5. What is the expected value ( mean ) of the probability distribution?

A) 7.06 B) 6.05 C) 5.06 D) 6.07

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6. Which is NOT a discrete probability distribution?

A) X 3 4 5 B) X 1 2 3 4
P(X) 0.40 0.10 0.5 P(X) 0.15 0.35 0.40 0.5

C) X 1 2 3 4 D) X 0 2 4 6
P(X) 1/5 3/10 1/5 3/10 P(X) 1/5 1/5 2/5 1/5

For items 7-8, refer to the probability distribution below:

X 0 2 4 6 8
P(X) 1/5 1/5 1/5 1/5 1/5

7. What is the mean of the probability distribution?

A) 1.5 B) 2.0 C) 3.5 D) 4.0

8. Which is the variance of the probability distribution?

A) 4.15 B) 6.35 C) 8.00 D) 9.50

For items 9 -10, refer to the given situation below:

The probabilities that a customer buys 2,3,4,5, or 6 items in a

grocery store are 0.32, 0.12, 0.23, 0.18, and 0.15, respectively.

9. What is the probability that a customer will buy more than 4 items in a grocery
store?

A) 0.23 B) 0.28 C) 0.33 D) 0.35

10. What is the average item that a customer can buy in the grocery store?

A) 3.72 B) 3.82 C) 4.52 D) 5.52

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References

Belecina, Rene R.,et al. 2016. Statistics and Probability. Published and distributed by Rex
Book Store Inc. pp. 21-43

http://www.stat.yale.edu/Courses/1997-98/101/rvmnvar.htm,retrieved November 27,

2020
Licuanan, Patricia B. et al. 2016. Teaching Guide for Senior High School. Statistics and
Probability. Commission on Higher Education. K to 12 Transition Program
Management Unit. pp.

Walpole, Ronald E. ,et al. Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists. Ninth
Edition. University of San Antonio. Prentice Hall. pp. 84-86.

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EPS in Mathematics

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