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Mean of a Discrete
Random Variable

Mrs. Maylene A. Mangurali

November 4, 2019
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
• illustrate, calculate, and interpret the mean of a discrete random
variable, and
• solve problems involving mean of probability distributions.
Before you proceed to the lesson, you must be able to recall
the definition of random variable and discrete random variable.
Random variable is a type of variable whose values are numbers and
due to chance. When the value of a variable is the outcome of a
random experiment, that variable is a random variable. The following
are examples of random variables:
• number of wins that a basketball team has in a given season
• weight of the students
• number of people at a seminar
• time it takes to get to the office
Random variables that are countable are discrete, while those
that usually arise from measurement and are not countable are
continuous.
It is important that you can distinguish between discrete and
continuous random variables because different statistical techniques
are used to analyze each.
Calculate the mean of the random variable with the given probability
distribution.

Mean of a Discrete Random Variable

The mean μx of the discrete random variable x is called the
expected value of x. It is denoted by E(x).
The expected value of a discrete random variable is equal to
the mean of the random variable.
The mean of random variable x is the sum of the products of
possible outcomes of x and its percent probability of occurrence.
To compute the mean of discrete random variable or the
expected value of x,, the following formula is used:
E(x)=μx=Σ[xi⋅P(xi)]
where:
xi is the value of random variable for the outcome i,
P(xi) is the probability that a random variable will have an
outcome i, and
μx is the mean of random variable of x.
How to Do
Step 1: Identify what is asked.
The expected value of the given probability
distribution
Step 2: Identify what are given.
The values of x are 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20.
The probability of occurrence P(x) are 0.50, 0.25,
0.15, 0.05, and 0.05, respectively.
Step 3: Use the formula to solve for the unknown.
E(x)=μx=(4⋅0.50)+(8⋅0.25)+(12⋅0.15)+(16⋅0.05)+(20⋅
0.05)
E(x)=μx=2+2+1.8+0.8+1
E(x)=μx=7.6.
Therefore, the expected value of x is 7.6.
Lloyd repairs computers for money on weekday mornings. He has compiled
the following probability distribution of the number of customers he is likely
to get each day. How many customers does he expect per day?

Step 1: Identify what is asked.

The average number of customers he expects per day
Step 2: Identify what are given.
The number of customers are 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40.
The probability of occurrence P(x) are 0.15, 0.35, 0.30, 0.15 and 0.05,
respectively.
Step 3: Use the formula to solve for the unknown.
E(x)=μx=(20⋅0.15)+(25⋅0.35)+(30⋅0.30)+(35⋅0.15)+(40⋅0.05)
E(x)=μx=3+8.75+9+5.25+2
E(x)=μx=28
The expected value of x is 28. Therefore, Lloyd is expecting 28 repairs per
day.
Tips
If the given possible outcome is in frequency, you can find the probability
of each possible outcome by dividing its frequency by the sum of the
frequencies. Then check that each probability is between zero and one,
and that the sum of all probabilities is one.
You may use a table to organize your work in computing for the mean like
the one shown below.

Key Point
The mean or expected value of x of a discrete random variable is given by
the formula
E(x)=μx=Σ[xi⋅P(xi)]
where xi is the value of the random variable and P(xi) is the probability of
observing the random variable x.