10chap 1.1 Random Variables
Chapter 1.
1:
RANDOM VARIABLES
AND
DISCRETE
PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTIONS
Review:
Indicate if the situation is discrete or
continuous variable.
Continuous 1. The height of a water dam.
Discrete 2. The number of books in a bookstore.
Continuous 3. The volume of milk purchased
during visit in a supermarket.
Discrete 4. The number of eagle killed per
day in Davao province.
Review:
Match column A with the answers in column B
Column A Column B
E 1. chance or likelihood
____
that an event will occur A. sample point
C 2. set of all possible
____
outcomes of the experiment B. experiment
B 3. any activity with
____
observable result C. sample space
D 4. subset of the sample
____
space D. event
A 5. result of the
____
experiment or outcome E. probability
Lesson Proper
Consider the experiment in tossing a coin 3
times with a sample point of H (head) or T(tail).
Sample Space for tossing a coin 3 times
HHH
HHT
HTH
HTT
THH
THT
TTH
TTT
A coin is tossed repeatedly until a Head occurs.
Let Y denote the number of tosses in the
experiment.
Outcome Y
H 1
TH 2
TTH 3
TTTH 4
TTTTH 5
: :
. .
Consider a coin that is tossed 3 times. Let X
denote the number of heads in the experiment.
Outcome X a. Find the event
HHH 3 comprising two
HHT 2 heads occur.
HTH 2
THH 2 X=2
HTT 1 X = {HHT, HTH,
THT 1 THH}
TTH 1
n(X) = 3
TTT 0
Probability Mass Function or also called
Probability distribution
The probability mass function of a discrete random
variable X is a list of the values of X with their
associated probabilities that is, the list of all possible
pairs of {x, P(X = x)}
Probability Distribution for
Random Variable X
X P(X = x)
x1 P1
x2 P2
x3 P3
: :
xn Pn
Consider a coin that is tossed 3 times. Let X
denote the number of heads in the experiment.
Outcome X
x P(X = x)
HHH 3
HHT 2 0
1
HTH 2 8
THH 2 3
1
HTT 1 8
3
THT 1 2
8
TTH 1 1
3
TTT 0 8
Let X denote the random variable that
gives the sum of the uppermost face
when two fair dice are cast. Make a
probability distribution of X.
x 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 2 1
P(X = xi)
36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36
P(X = xi) 0.03 0.06 0.08 0.11 0.14 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.08 0.06 0.03
The following data give the number of cars
observed waiting in line at the beginning of
5-minute intervals between 3 pm and 5 pm
on a certain Friday at BDO with the
corresponding frequency of occurrence.
Let X denotes number of cars observed.
x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
f 2 9 16 12 8 6 4 2 1
P(X = xi) 0.03 0.15 0.27 0.20 0.13 0.10 0.07 0.03 0.02
N = 60 0.03 = 2 divided by 60, and so on…
Consider a coin that is tossed 3 times. Let X
denote the number of heads in the experiment.
Construct a cumulative probability
distribution.
Outcome X
HHH 3 x P(X ≤ x)
HHT 2 1
0
HTH 2 8
THH 2 1
4
HTT 1 8
7
THT 1 2
8
TTH 1 8
TTT 0 3
8
Consider a coin that is tossed 3 times.
Let X denote the number of heads in
the experiment.
Outcome X Algebraic Formula:
HHH 3
HHT 2 1
HTH 2 if x = 0, 3
8
THH 2 P(X = x) = 3
HTT 1 if x = 1, 2
8
THT 1
TTH 1 𝐸𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒:
TTT 0 𝑃 𝑋=0 =
𝟏
𝟖
Generalization:
Random variable is a function that
assigns a number to each outcome of a
chance experiment.
Two Key Properties of Discrete
Probability Distribution
The probability of each value x is a value between
0 and 1 or equivalently, 0 ≤ P(X = x i) ≤ 1
The sum of the probabilities of the values equals 1.
Exercise:
If China is the most populous country in the world
with a population of over one billion. A demographer
assumes the following probability distribution of the
family size in India:
Family size
(x) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
P(X = x) 0.05 0.09 0.12 0.24 0.25 0.12 0.07 0.06
a. What is the probability that there are less than 5
members in a family in India?
Answer: 0.5
Exercise:
If China is the most populous country in the world
with a population of over one billion. A demographer
assumes the following probability distribution of the
family size in India:
Family size
(x) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
P(X = x) 0.05 0.09 0.12 0.24 0.25 0.12 0.07 0.06
b. What is the probability that there are 5 or more
members in a family in India?
Answer: 0.5
Exercise:
If China is the most populous country in the world
with a population of over one billion. A demographer
assumes the following probability distribution of the
family size in India:
Family size
(x) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
P(X = x) 0.05 0.09 0.12 0.24 0.25 0.12 0.07 0.06
c. What is the probability that the number of
members in a family in India is strictly between 3
and 6?
Answer: 0.49
Evaluation:
1. Consider the following discrete probability
distribution:
x 15 22 34 40
P(X = x) 0.14 0.40 0.26 0.20
a. What is the probability that the random variable
X is less than 40?
Answer: P(X < 40) = 0.80
Evaluation:
1. Consider the following discrete probability
distribution:
x 15 22 34 40
P(X = x) 0.14 0.40 0.26 0.20
b. What is the probability that the random variable
X is between 10 and 30?
Answer: P(10 < X < 30) = 0.54
Evaluation:
1. Consider the following discrete probability
distribution:
x 15 22 34 40
P(X = x) 0.14 0.40 0.26 0.20
c. What is the probability that the random variable
X is greater than 20?
Answer: P(X > 20) = 0.86
Evaluation:
2. Consider the following cumulative probability
distribution:
x 0 1 2 3 4 5
P(X ≤ x) 0.15 0.35 0.52 0.78 0.84 1.0
a. Calculate P(X ≤ 3) Answer: 0.78
b. Calculate P(X = 3) Answer: 0.26
c. Calculate P(2 ≤ X ≤ 4) Answer: 0.49
Assignment:
1. Consider the following discrete probability
distribution:
x -25 -15 10 20
P(X = x) 0.35 0.10 0.10
a. Complete the table.
b. What is the probability that the random
variable X is negative?
Assignment:
1. Consider the following discrete probability
distribution:
x -25 -15 10 20
P(X = x) 0.35 0.10 0.10
c. What is the probability that the random variable
X is greater than -20?
d. What is the probability that the random
variable X is less than 20?
Assignment:
2. Consider the following cumulative probability
distribution:
x -25 0 25 50
P(X ≤ x) 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.0
a. Calculate P(X ≤ 0)
b. Calculate P(X = 50)
c. Calculate P(0 ≤ X ≤ 50)
Thank You!!!
Next lesson is Expected Value of
Random Variables
