CHAPTER OUTLINE

3.1 Introduction to Random Variables

3.2 Discrete and Continuous Random Variables
3.3 Probability Distribution of a Discrete Random Variable
3.3.1

Mean of a Discrete Random Variable

3.3.2

Standard Deviation of a Discrete Random Variable

3.4 Cumulative Distribution Function for Discrete Random Variable

3.5 Continuous Random Variable

OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
Interpret that a random variable is a numerical quantity whose value depends on
the conditions and probabilities associated with an experiment.
Differentiate between a discrete and a continuous random variable.
Construct a discrete probability distribution based on an experiment or given
function.
Determine the similarities and differences between frequency distributions and
probability distribution.
Compute, describe and interpret the mean and standard deviation of a probability
distribution.

3.1

Random Variables

Definition:
A random variable is a variable whose value is determined by the outcome
of a random experiment

Supposed one family is randomly selected from the population. The process of
random selection is called random or chance experiment.

In general, a random variable is denoted by X or Y.

A random variable is discrete if it has a finite or countable number of possible

outcomes that can be listed. Examples of discrete random variables:

Number of houses sold by a developer in a given month.

Number of cars rented at a rental shop during a given month.

Number of report received at the police station on a given day.

Number of fish caught on a fishing trip.

A random variable is continuous if it has an uncountable number of possible

outcomes, represented by an interval on the number of line. Examples of continuous
random variables,

The weight of a person.

The time taken to complete a 100 meter dash.

The duration of a battery.

The height of a building.

Exercise:
Determine whether following random variables are discrete or continuous:
a) The number of eggs that a hen lays in a day._____________
b) The amount of milk a cow produces in one day._______________
c) The cost of making a randomly selected movie.____________
d) The number of goals scored by a randomly selected football player in a soccer
tournament.________________
3.2
Probability Distribution of a Discrete Random
Variable

Definition:
The probability distribution of a discrete random variable lists all the
possible values that the random variable can assume and their
corresponding probabilities.

The probability distribution can be presented in the form of a mathematical

formula, a table or a graph.

Example 1
Consider the table below. Let X be the number of vehicles owned by a randomly selected
family. Write the probability distribution of X and graph for the data.

Solution:

Example 2
One small farm has 10 cows where 6 of them are male and the rest are female. A
veterinary in country XY wants to study on the foot and mouth disease that attacks the
cows. Therefore, she randomly selects without replacement two cows as a sample from
the farm. Based on the study, construct a probability distribution which X is the random
sample representing the number of male cows that being selected as a sample (Use tree
diagram to illustrate the above event).

Solution:

i)

Conditions for probabilities for discrete random variable.

The probability assigned to each value of a random variable x must be between 0
and 1.
0 P(x)

ii)

1,

for each value of x

The sum of the probabilities assigned to all possible values of x is equal to 1.

 P(x) = 1

Example 3

The following table lists the distribution of car sales per day in a used car shop based on
passed data.
Car Sales per day, X
P(x)

0
0.10

1
0.25

(a) Verify whether this distribution is a probability distribution

(b) Find the probability that the number of car sales per day if,
(i)
none
(ii)

exactly 1

(iii)

1 to 3

(iv)

more than 1

(v)

at most 2

2
0.30

3
0.35

Example 4
Determine the value c so that the following function is a probability function for a
discrete random variable.

f
Solution:

( x ) c

x 5

2 2

for x 0,1,2,3,4

3.3

Probability Distribution of a Continuous Random

Variable

Let X be a random variable on a sample S. Suppose that the set

{a X b} is

P(a X b) is well defined. A random

variable X is a continuous random variable if there exists a function f ( x) 0
an event in S and the probability

such that

b
P a X b f ( x) dx
a

f (x) is called the probability density function of X. It satisfies the following

conditions
I.

II.

f ( x) 0 . That is, f is nonnegative

f ( x) dx 1.

That is, the total area under its graph is 1

Example 5:
Let X continuous random variable with the following probability density function

3 , 1 x1
f (x)
0
, otherwise

c(2x 5)

a)

evaluate c

b)

Find

P0 X 1

Example 6:
Let the probability density function of a random variable Y

2(2 y)
, 0 y 1
11

f ( y) cy
, 1 y 3

, otherwise

3.4

c)

Find c

d)

Find

P0Y 2)

The Distribution Function or Cumulative Distribution Function

The distribution function of X, denoted by F(x), is given by

F ( x) P ( X x )

The cumulative distribution F(x) of a discrete random variable X with probability

distribution f(x) is

F ( x) P ( X x )

f
tx

(t ) for - x

Let F(x) be the distribution function for a continuous random variable X, then

dF ( x)
f ( x)
F ( x) wherever the derivative exists. It
dx

thus follows that F(x) can be written as

x
F ( x) f (t )dt

where f(x) is the probability density function of X and t is used as the variable
integration.
Note: For a continuous random variable:
(i) P(X=a) = 0
(ii) P(a X b) = P(a < X < b)
(iii) P(x1 X x2) = F(x2) F(x1)
Example 7
A discrete random variable X has the following probability distribution.
X

P( X x)

1
30

3
10

1
2

1
6

Construct the cumulative distribution of X.

Solution:

Example 8
Given the probability function

5 x
f ( x)
10

for

x 1,2,3, or 4 , find F(x).

Solution:

Example 9
A discrete random variable X has the following cumulative distribution.

1
21 , for 0 x 1

3 , for 1 x 2
21
6
, for 2 x 3

F ( x ) 21
10
, for 3 x 4

21

15
21 , for 4 x 5

1 , for x 5
Construct the probability distribution of X.
Solution:

12

Example 10
The random variable X has the function
x
,
2

f(x) =

0x1
x
,
6

3x6

otherwise

(a) Show that X is a continuous r.v. with p.d.f. f(x).

(b) Find P(0 x 4)
Solution:

Example 11
X is a continuous r.v. with p.d.f. f(x) where

x
3

f ( x)

0 x 2
2x
2
3

2 x 3
otherwise

13

(a) Find the cumulative distribution function, F(x).

(b) Find P(1 X 2.5).

14

15

Expected value, Variance and Standard Deviation

The mean of random variable X is also known as the expected value of X and
written as

X E (X )

If X is a discrete random variable,

X E ( X ) xP( X x)
xS
If X is a continuous random variable,

X E ( X ) xf ( x)dx
Var ( X ) 2 2 E X 2
X

where

Var ( X ) X 2 P( X x) , in the discrete case

xS

X 2 f ( x)dx , in the continuous case when it is

exists.

Var(X) exists if and only if

and then Var

3.4.1

( X ) E ( X 2 ) E ( X )2 .

The standard deviation is

exists.

E (X ) and E ( X ) 2 both exists,

X Var ( X )

when Var(X)

Properties of Expected Values

For any constants a and b,
16

3.4.2

a)

E (a ) a

b)

E (bX ) bE ( X )

c)

E (aX b) aE ( X ) b

Properties of Variances
For any constants a and b,
a)

Var (a ) 0

b)

Var (bX ) b 2Var ( X )

c)

Var (aX b) a 2Var ( X )

Example 12
The following table lists the probability distribution of car sales per day in a used car
dealer based on passed data. P(x) is the probability of the corresponding value of X = x.
Calculate the expected number of sales per day and followed by standard deviation.
X

P(x)

0
1
2
3
Total

0.1
0.25
0.3
0.35
1.00

Solution:

17

Example 13
A coin is tossed three times. Let the random variable X denotes the number of heads
occurring in those three tosses. Find the expected value, variance and standard deviation
of X.
Solution:

18

Example 14
The r.v. X has p.d.f. P(X=x) for x=1,2,3.
x
P(X=x
)

1
2
3
0.1 0.6 0.3

Calculate:
(a) E(5X+3)
(b) 5E(X)+3
(c) E(4X2-3)
(d) 4E(X2)-3

19

Example 15
The discrete r.v. X has probability distribution as shown below in the table. Find
V(2X+3).
x
10 20 30
P(X=x 0.1 0.6 0.3
)
Solution:
V(2X+3) = 22V(X)

20

Example 16
During the school holiday, the manager of Victory Hotel records the number of room
bookings being cancelled each day during a period of 50 days, the results are shown
below and X denotes the number of room bookings being cancelled per day.
Number of room bookings being cancelled per day, X
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
a)

Construct the probability distribution of X.

b)

Then, draw a chart for the probability distribution.

Number of days
2
4
7
8
13
10
3
3

21

c)

The manager expects that five room bookings were cancelled for a day. Is the
manager expectation true? Explain.

d) Find the probability that at most three room bookings were cancelled.

e) Find the standard deviation for the number of room bookings being cancelled.

22

3.5

Moment

Certain special expected values, called moments, are useful in characterizing some
features of a distribution.
Definition
The kth moment about the origin of a random variable X is

k E[ X k ] x k f ( x)
x

for k 0,1,2,... when X is discrete and

k E[ X k ]

f ( x) dx

when X is continuous.
Definition
The kth moment about the mean is

k E[ X E ( X )]k E[( X ) k ] ( x ) k f ( x)
x

for k 0,1,2,... when X is discrete and

k E[( X ) k ]

(x )

f ( x )dx

when X is continuous.
The first moment about the origin is the mean (). The first moment about the mean is
zero; the second moment about the mean is variance; and the third moment about the
mean is a measure of a symmetry or skewness" of a distribution.
The covariance of a pair of random variables X and Y is defined by
Cov ( X , Y ) E[( X X )(Y Y )]

where it is commonly labeled as XY .

3.5.1

Moment Generating Function

23

Although the moments of distributions can be determined directly by evaluating the

necessary integrals or sums, an alternative procedure sometimes provides considerable
simplifications. This technique utilizes moment-generating function.
Definition
The moment generating function of a random variable X, where it exists, is given by

M X (t ) E (e tX ) e tX f ( x )
x

when X is discrete and

M X (t ) E (e tX )

tX

f ( x ) dx

when X is continuous.

In this form, e tX is explained by the Maclaurins series expansion such that

e tX 1 tx

t 2 x2 t 3 x3
t k xk

2!
3!
k!

For the discrete case, we thus get

t 2 x2 t 3 x3
t k xk

M X (t ) 1 tx

f ( x)
2!
3!
k!
x

f ( x) t. xf ( x )

1 t 2 .

t2
tk
. x 2 f ( x ) . x k f ( x ) ...
2! x
k! x

t2
tk
k
2!
k!

The main difficulty in using the Mclaurns series of a moment-generating function to

determine the moments of a random variable is usually not that of finding the momentgenerating function, but that of expanding it into a Mclaurins series.
If we are interested only in the first few moments of a random variable, say, 1 and 2 ,
their determination can usually be simplified by using the following theorem.

d k M X (t )
|t 0 k
dt k

Example17

24

Given that X has the probability distribution

1 3
f (x)
8 x

for x = 0, 1, 2, 3. Find the MGF of

this random variable and use it to determine 1 and 2 ,

Solution:

25