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Chapter 1 - Random Variables and Probability Distribution

Chapter 1 discusses random variables and probability distributions, defining key terms such as random experiment, sample space, and types of random variables (discrete and continuous). It provides examples of identifying these variables and illustrates how to create frequency distributions and compute probabilities for various events. The chapter emphasizes the importance of probability distribution in summarizing the outcomes of random experiments.

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2 views3 pages

Chapter 1 - Random Variables and Probability Distribution

Chapter 1 discusses random variables and probability distributions, defining key terms such as random experiment, sample space, and types of random variables (discrete and continuous). It provides examples of identifying these variables and illustrates how to create frequency distributions and compute probabilities for various events. The chapter emphasizes the importance of probability distribution in summarizing the outcomes of random experiments.

Uploaded by

celaevalencia
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CHAPTER 1 | Random Variables and Probability Distribution MATH112 - kamcarson

I. RANDOM VARIABLES
Definition of terms:
• Random experiment/trial – any activity which can be done repeatedly under similar
conditions.
• Sample space - the set of all possible outcomes in an experiment
• Event - subset of a sample space
• Outcome – elements in a sample space
• Probability – ratio of the number of favourable outcomes to the number of possible
outcomes
• Random variable - result of chance event that you can measure or count.
• Discrete random variable – countable number of possible values (e.g. number of pens in
a box, number of ants in a colony, number of ripe bananas in a basket, number of
defective batteries, number of students in a classroom, etc.)
• Continuous random variable – can assume an infinite number of values in one or more
intervals. (e.g., length of electric wires, voltage of car batteries, weight of newborns, etc.)

Identifying the Type of Variable. On your own understanding of the different types of variables,
list down five (5) examples of discrete variables and five examples of continuous variables.
DISCRETE CONTINUOUS

Question: If you are to toss a coin, how many ways do you think a coin can fall? If you roll a single
die, how many ways can it fall?
Illustration. Now, if you toss a coin and roll a die simultaneously once, how many possible
outcomes do you have?
POSSIBLE OUTCOMES POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
1ST TOSS & ROLL HEAD 1 dot TAIL 1 dot
2ND TOSS & ROLL HEAD 2 dots TAIL 2 dots
3RD TOSS & ROLL HEAD 3 dots TAIL 3 dots
OR
4TH TOSS & ROLL HEAD 4 dots TAIL 4 dots
5TH TOSS & ROLL HEAD 5 dots TAIL 5 dots
6TH TOSS & ROLL HEAD 6 dots TAIL 6 dots

Examples
1. Suppose two coins are tossed and we are interested to determine the number of tails that
will come out. Let us use “T” to represent the number of tails that will come out, and “H”
as the number of heads that will come out. Determine the values of the random variable
“T”.
2. Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement* from an urn containing 5 orange
balls and 6 violet balls. Let V be the random variable representing the no. of violet balls.
Find the values of the random variable V.
3. A basket contains 10 red balls and 4 white balls. If three balls are taken from the basket
one after the other, determine the possible values of the random variable “R”
representing the number of red balls.

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CHAPTER 1 | Random Variables and Probability Distribution MATH112 - kamcarson

These are examples of how to create the frequency distribution of a given set of raw data in a
random experiment.

II. PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION


After the creation of the frequency distribution in a set of raw data, we are to illustrate and
compute for the probabilities of each event that will occur. This is what we call the construction
of a probability distribution.
Probability distribution is a collection or the sum of the different possibilities/outcomes in a
certain experiment.
To compute for the probability of occurrence of the random variable “x” (denoted by P(x)), we
use:
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅
𝑷(𝑿) =
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔
Question 1: If you are to toss a coin, how many ways do you think a coin can fall?
a. Compute for the probability of HEAD landing.
b. Compute for the probability of TAIL landing.
Question 2: If you roll a single die, how many ways can it fall?
a. Compute for the probabilities of each face of the die.
Continuing to solve our previous examples:
1. Suppose two coins are tossed and we are interested to determine the number of tails that
will come out. Let us use “T” to represent the number of tails that will come out, and “H”
as the number of heads that will come out. Determine the values of the random variable
“T” and find the probability of occurrence of each value of the random variable.
2. Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement* from an urn containing 5 orange
balls and 6 violet balls. Let V be the random variable representing the no. of violet balls.
Find the values of the random variable V and find the probability of occurrence of each
value of the random variable.
3. A basket contains 10 red balls and 4 white balls. If three balls are taken from the basket
one after the other, determine the possible values of the random variable “R”
representing the number of red balls and find the probability of occurrence of each value
of the random variable.
Note: When we add all the probabilities of occurrences it is always equal to 1 or P(A) + P(B) + P(C)… = 1.
This is due to the definition of probability distribution.

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CHAPTER 1 | Random Variables and Probability Distribution MATH112 - kamcarson

References:

Brofar, C. M. B., Tungol, M. A. M. L., & Valencia, H. B. (n.d.). Statistics and Probability Quarter 3 -
Module 1: Random Variables and Probability Distributions. Module.

Belecina, R. R., Baccay, E. S., & Mateo, E. B. (2016).


Statistics and Probability. Rex Book Store.

Ocampo, J. J., & Marquez, W. G. (2016). Senior High Conceptual Math & Beyond
Statistics and Probability. Brilliant Creations Publishing, Inc.

britannica.com. (2021). Retrieved from Britannica:


https://www.britannica.com/science/statistics/Random-variables-andprobability-distributions

courses.lumenlearning.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from lumen Boundless Statistics:

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-statistics/chapter/discreterandom-variables/

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