COMPUTING THE MEAN OF A DISCRETE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION

 The mean of a discrete random variable X is the weighted average of the possible
values that the random variable can take.

Illustrative Example:

 Consider rolling a die. What is the average number of spots that would appear?

Discussion Points

Step 1.

Construct the probability distribution for the random variable X representing the number of spots
that would appear.
Number of Spots X Probability P(X)
1 1/6
2 1/6
3 1/6
4 1/6
5 1/6
6 1/6

Discussion Points
Step 2.

Multiply the value of the random variable X by the corresponding probability.

Discussion Points

Step 3:

Add the results obtained in Step 2.

∑( (
The mean tells us the average number of spots that would appear in a roll of a die. So, the average number of spots that woul d appear is 3.5.
Although the die will never show a number, which is 3.5, this implies that rolling the die many times, the theoretical mean would be 3.5.

Example 1
Grocery Items

The probabilities that a customer will buy 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 items in a grocery store

are 3/10, 1/10, 1/10, 2/10, and 3/10, respectively. What is the average number of items that a
customer will buy?
Solution to Example 1
Step 1.
Construct the probability distribution for the random variable X representing the number of items
that the customer will buy.

Step 2:
Multiply the value of the random variable X by the corresponding probability.

Step 3:
Add the results obtained in Step 2.

∑( (

Computing the Variance of a Discrete Probability Distribution

The variance and standard deviation describe the amount of spread, dispersion, or variability of
the items in a distribution.

Steps in Finding the Variance and Standard Deviation of a Discrete Probability

Distribution
1. Find the mean of the probability distribution.
2. Subtract the mean from each value of the random variable X.
3. Square the results obtained in Step 2.
4. Multiply the results obtained in Step 3 by the corresponding probability.
5. Get the sum of the results obtained in Step 4.

Illustrative Example:
The number of cars sold per day at a local car dealership, along with its corresponding
probabilities, is shown in the succeeding table. Compute the variance and the standard
deviation of the probability distribution.

Step 1.
Find the mean of the probability distribution using the formula μ=∑X• P(X)
Step 2.
Subtract the mean from each value of the random variable X.

Step 3.
Square the results obtained in Step 2.

Step 4.
Multiply the results obtained in Step 3 by the corresponding probability.

Step 5.
Get the sum of the results obtained in Step 4. The result is the value of the variance (σ2).
So, the formula for the variance is:

σ2 = Σ(X – μ)2 • P(X).

Step 6.
Get the square root of the variance to get the standard deviation.
The variance of the probability distribution is 1.56.
The standard deviation is σ = √ = 1.25.