DISCRETE

PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
Ms. Pia Lorraine O. Aserit
PROBABILITY
Chance that a particular event will occur.
Sample Space (𝑺)
Set of all possible outcome in a statistical experiment.
Event (𝑬)
Subset of a sample space.
𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 0% ≤ 𝑃 𝐸 ≤ 100%
𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 = ;
𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒
𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠
𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 for any event 𝐸 .
Examples:
a. Tossing a die
𝑺 = {𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓, 𝟔}
Event A: Getting a 4
𝟏
𝑃 𝐴 =
𝟔
Event B: Getting an even number
3 𝟏
𝑃 𝐵 = =
6 𝟐
Event C: Getting a number higher than 2
4 𝟐
𝑃 𝐶 = =
6 𝟑
Examples:
b. Flipping a coin twice
𝑺 = {𝑯𝑯, 𝑯𝑻, 𝑻𝑯, 𝑻𝑻}
Event A: Getting both H
𝟏
𝑃 𝐴 =
𝟒
Event B: Getting both T
𝟏
𝑃 𝐵 =
𝟒
Event C: Getting exactly one T
2 𝟏
𝑃 𝐶 = =
4 𝟐
RANDOM VARIABLE
It is a variable whose possible values are numerical
outcomes of a random experiment.
A function 𝑋 which assigns a real number 𝑥 to each
possible outcome in the sample space.
It could be a discrete random variable or continuous
random variable.
RANDOM VARIABLE
Discrete Random Variable
Variable whose values have finite (countable) number
of distinct values expressed as positive integers.
Continuous Random Variable
Variable that can assume an infinite number of values
in an interval between two specific integers.
Often results of measurements.
e.g. 1. A coin is tossed three times. Let the random variable 𝑋
represent the number of head.
S1: Perform the experiment. S2: Write the possible outcomes.
Outcome Random Variable 𝑋
HHH 3
HHT 2
HTH 2
HTT 1
THH 2
THT 1
S3: Write the random variable. TTH 1
𝑿 = {𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑} TTT 0
e.g. 2. Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement from an urn
containing 5 red balls and 6 blue balls. Let the random variable 𝑌
represents the number of blue balls. Find the possible values of
random variable 𝑌.
S1: Perform the experiment. S2: Write the possible outcomes.
1st draw 2nd draw Outcome Random Variable 𝑌
RR 0
RB 1
BR 1
BB 2
S3: Write the random variable.
𝒀 = {𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐}
e.g. 3. Two fair dice are thrown together. Let random variable 𝐴 be the
sum of outcomes in throwing two fair dice together.
S1: Perform the experiment. S2: Write the possible outcomes.
1,1 2 2,2 4 3,3 6 4,4 8 5,5 10 6,6 12
1,2 3 2,3 5 3,4 7 4,5 9 5,6 11
1,3 4 2,4 6 3,5 8 4,6 10
Get the results and 1,4 5 2,5 7 3,6 9
add ‘em up. 1,5 6 2,6 8
1,6 7
S3: Write the random variable.
𝑨 = {𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓, 𝟔, 𝟕, 𝟖, 𝟗, 𝟏𝟎, 𝟏𝟏, 𝟏𝟐}
 DISCRETE
PROBABILITY
PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
DISCRETE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION
A distribution that lists all the possible values of a
discrete random variable and their corresponding
probabilities.
Random Variable 𝑿 𝑋1 𝑋2 𝑋𝑛
RV’s Probability 𝑷(𝑿) 𝑃(𝑋1 ) 𝑃(𝑋2 ) 𝑃(𝑋𝑛 )

𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑉
𝑃(𝑋) =
𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒
e.g. 1. A coin is tossed three times. Let the random variable 𝑋
represent the number of head.
S1: Perform the experiment. S2: Write the possible outcomes.
Outcome Random Variable 𝑋
HHH 3
HHT 2
HTH 2
HTT 1
THH 2
THT 1
S3: Write the random variable. TTH 1
𝑿 = {𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑} TTT 0
e.g. 1. A coin is tossed three times. Let the random variable 𝑋
represent the number of head.
S4: Construct the DPD.

𝑿 0 1 2 3
𝑷(𝑿) 𝟏/𝟖 𝟑/𝟖 𝟑/𝟖 𝟏/𝟖
e.g. 2. Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement from an urn
containing 5 red balls and 6 blue balls. Let the random variable 𝑌
represents the number of blue balls. Find the possible values of
random variable 𝑌.
S1: Perform the experiment. S2: Write the possible outcomes.
1st draw 2nd draw Outcome Random Variable 𝑌
RR 0
RB 1
BR 1
BB 2
S3: Write the random variable.
𝒀 = {𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐}
e.g. 2. Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement from an urn
containing 5 red balls and 6 blue balls. Let the random variable 𝑌
represents the number of blue balls. Find the possible values of
random variable 𝑌.
S4: Construct the DPD.

𝒀 0 1 2
𝑷(𝒀) 𝟏/𝟒 𝟏/𝟐 𝟏/𝟒

𝟐/𝟒
e.g. 3. Two fair dice are thrown together. Let random variable 𝐴 be the
sum of outcomes in throwing two fair dice together.
S1: Perform the experiment. S2: Write the possible outcomes.
1,1 2 2,2 4 3,3 6 4,4 8 5,5 10 6,6 12
1,2 3 2,3 5 3,4 7 4,5 9 5,6 11
1,3 4 2,4 6 3,5 8 4,6 10
Get the results and 1,4 5 2,5 7 3,6 9
add ‘em up. 1,5 6 2,6 8
1,6 7
S3: Write the random variable.
𝑨 = {𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓, 𝟔, 𝟕, 𝟖, 𝟗, 𝟏𝟎, 𝟏𝟏, 𝟏𝟐}
e.g. 3. Two fair dice are thrown together. Let random variable 𝐴 be the
sum of outcomes in throwing two fair dice together.
S4: Construct the DPD.

𝑨 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
𝟏 𝟏 𝟐 𝟐 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟐 𝟐 𝟏 𝟏
𝑷(𝑨)
𝟐𝟏 𝟐𝟏 𝟐𝟏 𝟐𝟏 𝟕 𝟕 𝟕 𝟐𝟏 𝟐𝟏 𝟐𝟏 𝟐𝟏

𝟑
𝟐𝟏
PROPERTIES OF DPD
1. The probability of each value of the random variable
must be between 0 and 1 or equal to 0 or 1.
𝟎 ≤ 𝑷(𝒙) ≤ 𝟏

2. The sum of probabilities of all values of a random

DPD
b.

DPD
Examples:
c.

Not DPD × Property 2

Not DPD × Property 1 and Property 2