RANDOM VARIABLES
AND PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY
Sample Space
set of all possible
outcomes of an
experiment
Variable
a characteristic or
attribute that can assume
different values
RANDOM Variable
variables whose value is unknown or
a function that assigns values to each
of an experiment’s outcomes. It can
be either discrete (have specific
values) or continuous (any value in
continuous range)
DISCRETE RANDOM Variable
set of possible outcomes
that is countable
CONTINUOUS RANDOM
Variable
setof random variables
that take on values on a
continuous scale.
Probability Distribution
The probability of each values of the
random variable must be between or
equal to 0 and 1. In symbol, we write as
.
The sum of the probabilities of all
values of the random variable must be
equal to 1. In symbol, we write it as .
Mean of the Probability Distribution
The mean of a probability
distribution is given by where is a
possible outcome and is its
probability.
The mean of a probability
distribution is also referred to as the
expected value.
Variance and Standard Deviation of a Discrete
Probability Distribution
The variance of a discrete probability distribution
is given by the formula:
or
where:
• : is the variance of the distribution
• : is a possible value of the random variable
• : is the probability of the random variable being x
• : is the expected value (mean) of the distribution
Variance and Standard Deviation of a Discrete
Probability Distribution
The standard deviation of a discrete
probability distribution is given by the
formula:
or
Variance and Standard Deviation of a Discrete
Probability Distribution
Where:
are the values of the random variable,
is the probability of each value,
is the mean (expected value),
is the variance
Example:
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
a distribution of a continuous
random variable whose graph is
bell-shaped curved called the
normal curve
Properties of the Normal Distribution
Its curve is bell-shaped.
Its curve is symmetric about the mean.
The mean, median, and mode coincide at the
center of the distribution.
The distribution is unimodal.
Its curve is asymptotic with respect to the -axis.
The total area under the curve is 1.
Properties of the Normal Distribution
Standard Normal Distribution
a normal distribution with a mean of
0 and a standard deviation of 1.
Z-score
tells how many standard deviations
a value is away from the mean. The
negative z-score tells that the value
is below the mean, while the positive
z value is above the mean
Z-score
Z-score
A student scores a 75 on a test where the
class average is 65 and the standard
deviation is 10. Calculate the z-score for
this student's test score.
Z-score
1. Scores on a history test have an average of 80 with a standard
deviation of 6. What is the z-score for a student who earned a
75 on the test?
2. The weight of chocolate bars from a particular chocolate
factory has a mean of 8 ounces with a standard deviation of .1
ounce. What is the z-score corresponding to a weight of 8.17
ounces?
3. Books in the library are found to have an average length of
350 pages with a standard deviation of 100 pages. What is
the z-score corresponding to a book of length 80 pages?
Sampling Distribution of Sample Means
frequency distribution using the means
computed from all possible random
samples of a specific size taken from a
population. It is also called as the
probability distribution of the sample
means
