Statistics for

Business and Economics

6th Edition

Chapter 5

Discrete Random Variables and

Probability Distributions

Statistics for Business and Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. Chap 5-1
 Chapter Goals
After completing this chapter, you should be
able to:
Interpret the mean and standard deviation for a

discrete random variable

Use the binomial probability distribution to find

probabilities
Describe when to apply the binomial distribution

Use the hypergeometric and Poisson discrete

probability distributions to find probabilities

Explain covariance and correlation for jointly
Statistics for Business and
distributed
Economics, discrete
6e 2007 random variables
Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-2
 Introduction to
Probability Distributions
Random Variable
Represents a possible numerical value from

a random experiment
Random
Variables

Ch. 5 Discrete Continuous Ch. 6

Random Variable Random Variable

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-3
 Random Variable

In many experiments the outcomes of the

experiment can be assigned numerical values.
For instance, if you roll a die, each outcome has
a value from 1 through 6. If you ascertain the
midterm test score of a student in your class,
the outcome is again a number.
A random variable is just a rule that assigns a

number to each outcome of an experiment.

These numbers are called the values of the
random variable. We often use letters like X, Y
Statistics for Business and
and Z to denote a random variable
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-4
 Discrete Random Variables
Can only take on a countable number of values
Examples:

Roll a die twice

Let X be the number of times 4 comes up
(then X could be 0, 1, or 2 times)

Toss a coin 5 times.

Let X be the number of heads
Statistics for(then X = and
Business 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5)
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-5
 Discrete Probability Distribution
Experiment: Toss 2 Coins. Let X = # heads.
Show P(x) , i.e., P(X = x) , for all values of x:

4 possible outcomes
Probability Distribution
T T x Value Probability
0 1/4 = .25
T H 1 2/4 = .50
2 1/4 = .25
H T
Probability

.50

Statistics
H for Business
H and .25
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. 0 1 2Chapx 5-6
 Probability Distribution
Required Properties

P(x) 0 for any value of x

The individual probabilities sum to 1;

P(x) 1
x

(The notation indicates summation over all possible x values)

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-7
 Cumulative Probability Function

The cumulative probability function, denoted

F(x0), shows the probability that X is less than or
equal to x0

F(x 0 ) P(X x 0 )

In other words,
F(x 0 ) P(x)
xx0
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-8
 Expected Value
Expected Value (or mean) of a discrete
distribution (Weighted Average)
E(x) xP(x)
x

x P(x)
Example: Toss 2 coins, 0 .25

x = # of heads, 1 .50
2 .25
compute expected value of x:
E(x) = (0 x .25) + (1 x .50) + (2 x .25)
Statistics for Business and
= 1.0
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-9
 Variance and Standard
Deviation
Variance of a discrete random variable X

E(X ) (x ) P(x)
2 2 2

Standard Deviation of a discrete random variable X

2 x
(x ) 2
P(x)

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-10
 Standard Deviation Example

Example: Toss 2 coins, X = # heads,

compute standard deviation (recall E(x) = 1)

x
(x ) 2
P(x)

(0 1)2 (.25) (1 1)2 (.50) (2 1)2 (.25) .50 .707

Possible number of heads

Statistics for Businessand
= 0, 1, or 2
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-11
 Functions of Random Variables

If P(x) is the probability function of a discrete

random variable X , and g(X) is some function of
X , then the expected value of function g is

E[g(X)] g(x)P(x)
x

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-12
 Linear Functions
of Random Variables

Let a and b be any constants.

a) E(a) a and Var(a) 0

i.e., if a random variable always takes the value a,

it will have mean a and variance 0

b) E(bX) bX and Var(bX) b 2 2

X

Statistics forthe
i.e., Business and
expected value of bX is bE(x)
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-13
 Linear Functions
of Random Variables
(continued)
Let random variable X have mean x and variance 2x
Let a and b be any constants.
Let Y = a + bX
Then the mean and variance of Y are
Y E(a bX) a bX

2
Y Var(a bX) b
2 2
X

so that the standard deviation of Y is

Statistics for Business and Y b X
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-14
 Probability Distributions
Probability
Distributions

Ch. 5 Discrete Continuous Ch. 6

Probability Probability
Distributions Distributions

Binomial Uniform

Hypergeometric Normal

Statistics for Poisson

Business and Exponential
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-15
 The Binomial Distribution
Probability
Distributions

Discrete
Probability
Distributions

Binomial

Hypergeometric

Statistics for Poisson

Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-16
 Bernoulli Distribution

Consider only two outcomes: success or failure

Let P denote the probability of success
Let 1 P be the probability of failure
Define random variable X:
x = 1 if success, x = 0 if failure
Then the Bernoulli probability function is

P(0) (1 P) and P(1) P

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-17
 Bernoulli Distribution
Mean and Variance

The mean is = P

E(X) xP(x) (0)(1 P) (1)P P

X

The variance is 2 = P(1 P)

2 E[(X )2 ] (x )2 P(x)
X

(0 P)
Statistics for Business and(1 P) (1 P)
2 2
P P(1 P)
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-18
 Sequences of x Successes
in n Trials

The number of sequences with x successes in n

independent trials is:

n!
C
n
x
x! (n x)!

Where n! = n(n 1)(n 2) . . . 1 and 0! = 1

These sequences are mutually exclusive, since no two

can occur at the same time
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-19
 Binomial Probability Distribution
A fixed number of observations, n
e.g., 15 tosses of a coin; ten light bulbs taken from a warehouse
Two mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
categories
e.g., head or tail in each toss of a coin; defective or not defective
light bulb
Generally called success and failure
Probability of success is P , probability of failure is 1 P
Constant probability for each observation
e.g., Probability of getting a tail is the same each time we toss
the coin
Observations are independent
Statistics for Business and
The outcome of one observation does not affect the outcome of
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
the other
Education, Inc. Chap 5-20
 Possible Binomial Distribution
Settings

A manufacturing plant labels items as either

defective or acceptable
A firm bidding for contracts will either get a
contract or not
A marketing research firm receives survey
responses of yes I will buy or no I will not
New job applicants either accept the offer or
reject it
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-21
 Binomial Distribution Formula

n! X nX
P(x) P (1- P)
x ! (n x )!

P(x) = probability of x successes in n trials,

with probability of success P on each Example: Flip a coin four
trial times, let x = # heads:
n=4
x = number of successes in sample,
(x = 0, 1, 2, ..., n) P = 0.5

n = sample size (number of trials 1 - P = (1 - 0.5) = 0.5

or x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
Statistics for
observations) Business and
Economics,
P 6e 2007
= probability Pearson
of success
Education, Inc. Chap 5-22
 Example:
Calculating a Binomial Probability
What is the probability of one success in five
observations if the probability of success is 0.1?
x = 1, n = 5, and P = 0.1

n!
P(x 1) P X (1 P)n X
x! (n x)!
5!
(0.1)1(1 0.1)5 1
1! (5 1)!
(5)(0.1)(0.9)4
Statistics for Business and
.32805
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-23
 Binomial Distribution
The shape of the binomial distribution depends on the
values of P and n
Mean P(x) n = 5 P = 0.1
.6
Here, n = 5 and P = 0.1 .4
.2
0 x
0 1 2 3 4 5

.6
P(x) n = 5 P = 0.5
Here, n = 5 and P = 0.5
.4
.2
Statistics for Business and 0 x
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson 0 1 2 3 4 5
Education, Inc. Chap 5-24
 Binomial Distribution
Mean and Variance

Mean
E(x) nP
Variance and Standard Deviation

nP(1- P)
2

nP(1- P)
Where n = sample size
P = probability of success
Statistics for Business and
(1 P) = probability of failure
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-25
 Binomial Characteristics
Examples
nP (5)(0.1) 0.5
Mean P(x) n = 5 P = 0.1
.6
.4
nP(1- P) (5)(0.1)(1 0.1) .2
0.6708 0 x
0 1 2 3 4 5

nP (5)(0.5) 2.5 P(x) n = 5 P = 0.5

.6
.4
nP(1- P) (5)(0.5)(1 0.5) .2
1.118 and
Statistics for Business 0 x
0 1 2 3 4 5
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-26
 Using Binomial Tables
N x p=.20 p=.25 p=.30 p=.35 p=.40 p=.45 p=.50
10 0 0.1074 0.0563 0.0282 0.0135 0.0060 0.0025 0.0010
1 0.2684 0.1877 0.1211 0.0725 0.0403 0.0207 0.0098
2 0.3020 0.2816 0.2335 0.1757 0.1209 0.0763 0.0439
3 0.2013 0.2503 0.2668 0.2522 0.2150 0.1665 0.1172
4 0.0881 0.1460 0.2001 0.2377 0.2508 0.2384 0.2051
5 0.0264 0.0584 0.1029 0.1536 0.2007 0.2340 0.2461
6 0.0055 0.0162 0.0368 0.0689 0.1115 0.1596 0.2051
7 0.0008 0.0031 0.0090 0.0212 0.0425 0.0746 0.1172
8 0.0001 0.0004 0.0014 0.0043 0.0106 0.0229 0.0439
9 0.0000 0.0000 0.0001 0.0005 0.0016 0.0042 0.0098
10 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0001 0.0003 0.0010

Examples:
n = 10, x = 3, P = 0.35: P(x = 3|n =10, p = 0.35) = .2522
Statistics for Business and
n = 10, x = 8, P = 0.45: P(x = 8|n =10, p = 0.45) = .0229
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-27
 Using PHStat

Select PHStat / Probability & Prob. Distributions / Binomial

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-28
 Using PHStat
(continued)
Enter desired values in dialog box

Here: n = 10
p = .35

Output for x = 0
to x = 10 will be
generated by PHStat

Optional check boxes

for additional output
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-29
 PHStat Output

P(x = 3 | n = 10, P = .35) = .2522

Statistics for Business and P(x > 5 | n = 10, P = .35) = .0949

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-30
 The Hypergeometric Distribution
Probability
Distributions

Discrete
Probability
Distributions

Binomial

Hypergeometric

Statistics for Poisson

Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-31
 The Hypergeometric Distribution
n trials in a sample taken from a finite
population of size N
Sample taken without replacement
Outcomes of trials are dependent
Concerned with finding the probability of X
successes in the sample where there are S
successes in the population
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-32
 Hypergeometric Distribution
Formula

S! (N S)!

CSxCNnxS x! (S x)! (n x)! (N S n x)!
P(x)
CnN
N!
n! (N n)!
Where
N = population size
S = number of successes in the population
N S = number of failures in the population
n = sample size
Statistics for Business and
x = number of successes in the sample
Economics,n6e x= 2007
numberPearson
of failures in the sample
Education, Inc. Chap 5-33
 Using the
Hypergeometric Distribution
Example: 3 different computers are checked from 10 in
the department. 4 of the 10 computers have illegal
software loaded. What is the probability that 2 of the 3
selected computers have illegal software loaded?
N = 10 n=3
S=4 x=2

CSxCNnxS C24C16 (6)(6)

P(x 2) N
10 0.3
Cn C3 120
Statistics
The for Business
probability that and
2 of the 3 selected computers have illegal
Economics,
software6eloaded
2007 Pearson
is 0.30, or 30%.
Education, Inc. Chap 5-34
 Hypergeometric Distribution
in PHStat
Select:
PHStat / Probability & Prob. Distributions / Hypergeometric

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-35
 Hypergeometric Distribution
in PHStat
(continued)

Complete dialog box entries and get output

N = 10 n=3
S=4 x=2

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson P(X = 2) = 0.3
Education, Inc. Chap 5-36
 The Poisson Distribution
Probability
Distributions

Discrete
Probability
Distributions

Binomial

Hypergeometric

Statistics for Poisson

Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-37
 The Poisson Distribution

Apply the Poisson Distribution when:

You wish to count the number of times an event
occurs in a given continuous interval
The probability that an event occurs in one subinterval
is very small and is the same for all subintervals
The number of events that occur in one subinterval is
independent of the number of events that occur in the
other subintervals
There can be no more than one occurrence in each
subinterval
Statistics for Business
The and
average number of events per unit is (lambda)
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-38
 Poisson Distribution Formula

x
e
P(x)
x!
where:
x = number of successes per unit
= expected number of successes per unit
e = base of the natural logarithm system (2.71828...)

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-39
 Poisson Distribution
Characteristics

Mean
E(x)
Variance and Standard Deviation
E[( X ) ]
2 2

where = expected number of successes per unit
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-40
 Using Poisson Tables

X 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90

0 0.9048 0.8187 0.7408 0.6703 0.6065 0.5488 0.4966 0.4493 0.4066

1 0.0905 0.1637 0.2222 0.2681 0.3033 0.3293 0.3476 0.3595 0.3659
2 0.0045 0.0164 0.0333 0.0536 0.0758 0.0988 0.1217 0.1438 0.1647
3 0.0002 0.0011 0.0033 0.0072 0.0126 0.0198 0.0284 0.0383 0.0494
4 0.0000 0.0001 0.0003 0.0007 0.0016 0.0030 0.0050 0.0077 0.0111
5 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0001 0.0002 0.0004 0.0007 0.0012 0.0020
6 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0001 0.0002 0.0003
7 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000

Example: Find P(X = 2) if = .50

e X e 0.50 (0.50)2
P( X 2) .0758
Statistics for Business andX! 2!
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-41
 Graph of Poisson Probabilities

Graphically:
= .50
=
X 0.50
0 0.6065
1 0.3033
2 0.0758
3 0.0126
4 0.0016
5 0.0002
6 0.0000
7
Statistics and P(X = 2) = .0758
for0.0000
Business
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-42
 Poisson Distribution Shape

The shape of the Poisson Distribution

depends on the parameter :
= 0.50 = 3.00

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-43
 Poisson Distribution
in PHStat
Select:
PHStat / Probability & Prob. Distributions / Poisson

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-44
 Poisson Distribution
in PHStat
(continued)

Complete dialog box entries and get output

Statistics for Business and

P(X = 2) = 0.0758
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-45
 Joint Probability Functions

A joint probability function is used to express the

probability that X takes the specific value x and
simultaneously Y takes the value y, as a function of x
and y
P(x, y) P(X x Y y)
The marginal probabilities are

P(x) P(x, y) P(y) P(x, y)

y
Statistics for Business and x

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson

Education, Inc. Chap 5-46
 Conditional Probability Functions

The conditional probability function of the random

variable Y expresses the probability that Y takes the
value y when the value x is specified for X.
P(x, y)
P(y | x)
P(x)
Similarly, the conditional probability function of X, given
Y = y is:
P(x, y)
P(x | y)
Statistics for Business and P(y)
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-47
 Independence
The jointly distributed random variables X and Y are
said to be independent if and only if their joint probability
function is the product of their marginal probability
functions:

P(x, y) P(x)P(y)
for all possible pairs of values x and y

A set of k random variables are independent if and only

if
Statistics for P(x 1, x 2 ,
Business , x k ) P(x1 )P(x 2 )P(x k )
and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-48
 Covariance
Let X and Y be discrete random variables with means
X and Y
The expected value of (X - X)(Y - Y) is called the
covariance between X and Y
For discrete random variables
Cov(X, Y) E[(X X )(Y Y )] (x x )(y y )P(x, y)
x y

An equivalent expression is
Cov(X, Y) E(XY) xy xyP(x, y) xy
Statistics for Business and x y
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-49
 Covariance and Independence

The covariance measures the strength of the

linear relationship between two variables

If two random variables are statistically

independent, the covariance between them
is 0
The converse is not necessarily true

Statistics for Business and

Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-50
 Correlation
The correlation between X and Y is:
Cov(X, Y)
Corr(X, Y)
X Y

= 0 no linear relationship between X and Y

> 0 positive linear relationship between X and Y
when X is high (low) then Y is likely to be high (low)
= +1 perfect positive linear dependency
< 0 negative linear relationship between X and Y
when and

Statistics for Business X is high (low) then Y is likely to be low (high)
= -1 perfect negative linear dependency
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-51
 Portfolio Analysis

Let random variable X be the price for stock A

Let random variable Y be the price for stock B
The market value, W, for the portfolio is given by the
linear function

W aX bY
(a is the number of shares of stock A,
b is the number of shares of stock B)
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-52
 Portfolio Analysis
(continued)

The mean value for W is

W E[W] E[aX bY]
aX bY
The variance for W is

2W a 2 2X b 2 2Y 2abCov(X, Y)
or using the correlation formula

W a Xand
b Y 2abCorr(X, Y) X Y
2 2 2 2 2
Business
Statistics for
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-53
 Example: Investment Returns
Return per $1,000 for two types of investments

Investment
P(xiyi) Economic condition Passive Fund X Aggressive Fund Y
.2 Recession - $ 25 - $200
.5 Stable Economy + 50 + 60
.3 Expanding Economy + 100 + 350

E(x) = x = (-25)(.2) +(50)(.5) + (100)(.3) = 50

Statistics for Business and
E(y) = y = (-200)(.2) +(60)(.5) + (350)(.3) = 95
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-54
 Computing the Standard Deviation
for Investment Returns
Investment
P(xiyi) Economic condition Passive Fund X Aggressive Fund Y
0.2 Recession - $ 25 - $200
0.5 Stable Economy + 50 + 60
0.3 Expanding Economy + 100 + 350

X (-25 50)2 (0.2) (50 50)2 (0.5) (100 50) 2 (0.3)

43.30

y (-200 95)2 (0.2) (60 95)2 (0.5) (350 95)2 (0.3)

Statistics for Business and
Economics, 193.71
6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-55
 Covariance for Investment Returns
Investment
P(xiyi) Economic condition Passive Fund X Aggressive Fund Y
.2 Recession - $ 25 - $200
.5 Stable Economy + 50 + 60
.3 Expanding Economy + 100 + 350

Cov(X, Y) (-25 50)(-200 95)(.2) (50 50)(60 95)(.5)

(100 50)(350 95)(.3)
8250
Statistics for Business and
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-56
 Portfolio Example
Investment X: x = 50 x = 43.30
Investment Y: y = 95 y = 193.21
xy = 8250

Suppose 40% of the portfolio (P) is in Investment X and

60% is in Investment Y:
E(P) .4 (50) (.6) (95 ) 77

P (.4)2 (43.30) 2 (.6)2 (193.21) 2 2(.4)(.6)(8250)

133 .04
Statistics for Business and
The portfolio return and portfolio variability are between the values
Economics, 6e 2007
for investments Pearson
X and Y considered individually
Education, Inc. Chap 5-57
 Interpreting the Results for
Investment Returns

The aggressive fund has a higher expected

return, but much more risk

y = 95 > x = 50
but
y = 193.21 > x = 43.30

The Covariance of 8250 indicates that the two

investments
Statistics for Businessare
and positively related and will vary
in the
Economics, 6esame
2007direction
Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-58
 Chapter Summary

Defined discrete random variables and

probability distributions
Discussed the Binomial distribution
Discussed the Hypergeometric distribution
Reviewed the Poisson distribution
Defined covariance and the correlation between
two random variables
Examined
Statistics application
for Business and to portfolio investment
Economics, 6e 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. Chap 5-59