10/19/2016 Chapter5:DiscreteRandomVariables

ProbabilityDistributions:DiscreteVariables
GeneralStatistics
DiscreteRandomVariables

DiscreteRandomVariablesProbabilityDistributions
Aprobabilitydistributionissimilartoafrequencydistributionorahistogram.Defined
characteristicsofapopulationselectedrandomlyiscalledarandomvariableandwhenthe
valuesofthisvariableismeasurablewecandetermineitsmeanoraverageorexpectedvalue
andalsoitsvarianceandstandarddeviation.

Review:frequencydistribution,meanandvariance

1.Knowwhatismeantbyarandomvariable.

Arandomvariableisanumericalquantitywhosevalueisdeterminedbychance.

Inresearchoneisoftenaskedtostudyapopulation,theresearchersmustthereforedefineor
selectcharacteristicsofthepopulationsthattheywhichtostudyormeasure,thecharacteristics
ofapopulationthatonewishestostudyiscalledarandomvariableanditspossiblevaluesis
thesamplespace.

Thevaluesofthesamplespaceissubjecttochanceandisthereforedeterminedrandomly,these
valuesaresaidtohavebeenoccurredorobserved.

ExamplesofRandomVariables:

Yourincomenext Yourscoreonthe
year nextexam
Tomorrow'shigh Thenumberof
temperature errorsinaphone
book
Howlongyouwait IBM'squarterly
forasoda dividend
Lengthofamovie Theheightofthe
line nextpersonyousee
Amountofmoney YourGPAforthe
youwilllose presentterm

2.Knowwhatismeantbyacontinuousordiscreterandomvariable.

Adiscreterandomvariableisonethatcanassumeonlyinteger(wholenumber,0,1,2,3,4,5,
6,etc.)Values.

Example:ResponsewithYesNovalues,MaximumNumberofadultthatcanfitintoacar(4,
5,6or7),Year(2002),etc.

Acontinuousrandomvariableisonethatcanassumeanyvalueoveracontinuousrangeof
possibilities.

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Example:Timeofday(12:31:24p.m.),Temperature(60.31450F,Weight(154.25pounds),etc.

Acontinuousrandomvariablemaybereportedalonganintervalwhichshowtherangeof
possiblevalues,samplespace,suchasthefortherandomcontinuousvariable,x,theheightofa
grownman:onestimatewouldbe4feet<x<7feet(Interval).

3.Knowhowtodeterminetheprobabilitydistributionsofdiscreterandomvariables.

Theprobabilitydistributionofadiscreterandomvariableissimilartoafrequencydistributionof
thatvariable.Thisdistributionmaybeillustratedorrepresentedbyeitheratableoragraphical
presentationsuchasahistogram.

Example:Consideranexperimenttocountthenumberofcustomersarrivingduringaspecific
timeinterval(say,numberarrivingat10minutesintervals).Thediscreterandomvariablewould
bethenumberofarrivalsduringthetimeinterval,let'ssaythatthepossiblenumbersarrivingis
either,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,and7orgreater.Aresultsofsuchanexperimentwouldlooksomething
likethis:

ThePr[x]orP(x)orfrequencyofxisthecellfrequencydividedbytotalnumberofobservation.

FrequencyDistributionTableisshowninTable5.1

Table5.1NumberofArrivalsProbabilityDistributionTable

NumberofArrival, Numbersof10 RelativeFrequency
x minutesInterval orProbabilityofx,
withxnumberof f/N
(1) arrivals,f
(3)=(2)/N
(2)
0 18 0.3529
1 18 0.3529
2 8 0.1569
3 3 0.0588
4 2 0.0392
5 1 0.0196
6 0 0
7ormore 1 0.0196
N=51 1

Figure5.1ProbabilityDistributionPlot.

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10/19/2016 Chapter5:DiscreteRandomVariables

WorkshopProblem:ProbabilityDistribution.

Findtheprobabilitydistributionofx,ifxrepresentsacodeforthesalaryrangeofemployee,
assumex=5isthelowestrangeandx=30isthehighestrange.

SalaryRange,x Numberof P(x)=f/N
Salaries,f
1 12
2 10
3 7
4 3
5 4
6 3
Total=N= 1

MeanandVarianceofRandomVariables
Themeanorexpectedvalueofarandomvariableisthesumofeachvaluesofthevariable
timesitscorrespondingprobability,p(x).

Theexpectedvalueofarandomvariableisconsidereditsmean.

1.Knowhowtodeterminethemeanorexpectedvalueofadiscreterandomvariable.

Thecomputationusedtocalculatethemeanorexpectedvalueofarandomvariableissimilarto
thatusedtofindthemeanofagroupeddata.

Theexpectedvalueofadiscreterandomvariable,X,denotedby ,istheweightedaverageof
thatvariable'spossiblevalues,wheretherespectiveprobabilitiesareusedasweights.

TheexpectedvalueisalsodenotedbyE(x).

Example:UsingexampleabovetocomputetheExpectedValueofx.

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Fromworksheetbelow,theexpectedvalueis1.2353.

Numberof Numbersof Relative xPr(x)
Arrival,x 10minutes Frequencyor
Interval,f Probabilityof
(1) x,Pr(x)=f/N
(2)
(3)=(2)/N
0 18 0.3529 0
1 18 0.3529 0.3529
2 8 0.1569 0.3137
3 3 0.0588 0.1765
4 2 0.0392 0.1569
5 1 0.0196 0.098
6 0 0 0
7ormore 1 0.0196 0.1374
N=51 1 =

1.2353

2.Knowhowtocomputethevarianceandstandarddeviationfromafrequency
distribution.

Thevarianceofadiscreterandomvariableisdeterminedbythefollowingformulas,(2)Is
preferredforcomputationalease:

(1)Variance= ,whereP(x)istheprobabilityorrelativefrequencyofx.

(2)Variance=

Example:calculatethevarianceoftherandomvariableabove:

Number Numbers Relative xPr(x) x2Pr(x)
of of10 Frequency
Arrival,x minutes or
Interval,f Probability
(1) ofx,
(2) Pr(x)=f/N

(3)=(2)/N
0 18 0.3529 0 0
1 18 0.3529 0.3529 0.3529
2 8 0.1569 0.3137 0.6275
3 3 0.0588 0.1765 0.5294
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4 2 0.0392 0.1569 0.6275

5 1 0.0196 0.098 0.4902
6 0 0 0 0
7ormore 1 0.0196 0.1374 0.9608
N=51 1 =
=
=
1.2353
3.5882

Variance= =3.58821.5260=2.0622

Andstandarddeviation=

Worksheet:Usetheworksheetorfunctionsbelowtoshowtheprobabilitydistribution,mean,
varianceandstandarddeviationoftherandomvariablexbelow:

x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Frequency 23 43 50 56 45 34 24

WorksheetforComputingtheProbabilityDistribution,meanandvarianceofaDiscrete
RandomVariable,x.

Number Numbers Relative xPr(x) x2Pr(x)
of of10 Frequency
Arrival, minutes or (4) (5)=
x Interval, Probability
f ofx, (1)x(4)
(1) Pr(x)=f/N
(2)
(3)=(2)/N

N= 1 = (7) =

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(6) Variance=

(8)=(5)(6)=

StandardDeviation= =

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