Mean and

Variance of
Random
Variables
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 Objectives
■ Illustrates the mean and variance of a discrete random variable.

■ Calculates the mean and variance of a discrete random variable.

■ Interprets the mean and the variance of a discrete random variables

■ Solves problems involving mean and variance of probability

distributions.
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 Mean
Random
Variables
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 Mean of a Discrete Random
Variable
The Mean of a discrete random
variable is the central value or
average of its corresponding
probability mass function. It is
also called as the Expected
Value.
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 Mean of a Discrete Random
Variable
It is computed using the
formula:
x̄ = ∑x p(x)
Where x is the outcome and p(x) is
the probability of the outcome.
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 Example
Determine the mean or expected value
of random variable below.

x 0 1 2 3 4
p(x) 1/5 1/5 1/5 1/5 1/5
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 Solution
x̄ = ∑x p(x)
x̄ = ∑ ((0)(1/5) + (1)(1/5) + (2)(1/5) + (3)(1/5) +
(4)(1/5))
x̄ = ∑ (0 + 1/5 + 2/5 + 3/5 + 4/5)
x̄ = ∑ (10/5 0r 2)
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Therefore, the mean for the above random variable

is 2.
 Example
Find the mean of the random variable Y
representing the number of red color
chocolate per 160 grams pack of colored
chocolate packages that has the following
distribution
y 4 5 6 7
p(y) 0.10 0.37 0.33 0.20
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 Solution
x̄ = ∑x p(x)
x̄ = ∑ ((4)(0.10) + (5)(0.37) + (6)(0.33) + (7)
(0.20))
x̄ = ∑ (0.40 + 1.85 + 1.98 + 1.40)
x̄ = ∑ (5.63)
Therefore, the mean of the probability distribution
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is 5.63. this implies that the average number of red

chocolates per 160 grams is 5.63
 Example
The probability 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?
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 Steps in
Finding the
Mean?
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 1. Construct

Construct the probability

distribution for the random
variable X representing the
number of items that the
customer will buy.
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 2. Multiply

Multiply the value of the

random variable X by the
corresponding probability.
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 3. Add

Add the results obtained in

Step 2. Results obtained is
the mean of the probability
distribution.
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 Solution
Number of items X Probability P(x)
1 3/10
2 1/10
3 1/10
4 2/10
5 3/10
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 Solution
Number of Probability X P(x)
items X P(x)
1 3/10 3/10
2 1/10 2/10
3 1/10 3/10
4 2/10 8/10
5 3/10 15/10
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 Solution
Number of Probability X P(x)
items X P(x)
1 3/10 3/10
2 1/10 2/10
3 1/10 3/10
4 2/10 8/10
5 3/10 15/10
Total 31/10 or 3.1
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 Solution
x̄ = ∑x p(x)
x̄ = ∑ ( 3/10 + 2/10 + 3/10 + 8/10 + 15/10)
x̄ = ∑ (31/10)
x̄ = ∑ (3.1)
Therefore, the mean of the probability distribution
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is 3.1. This implies that the average number of item

that the customer will buy is 3.1.
 Variance and
Standard
Deviation
Random
Variables
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 Variance and Standard
Deviation
The Variance and Standard
deviation describe the
amount of spread,
dispersion, or variability of
the items in a distribution.
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 Variance and Standard
Deviation
These are two variables that
describe how scattered or
spread out the scores are
from the mean value of the
random variable.
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 Formula for Variance

σ 2 =
∑ (x - x̄ ) p(x)
2
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 Formula for Standard Deviation

σ =
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 Formula for Variance

x̄ - mean
p(x) - Probability of the outcome

σ - variance
2

σ -Standard Deviation
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 Steps in
Finding the
Variance and
Standard
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 1. Find

Find the mean of the

probability
distribution.
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 2. Subtract

Subtract the mean from each

value of the random variable
X.
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 3. Square

Square the result

obtained in Step 2.
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 4. Multiply

Multiply the results

obtained in Step 3 by the
corresponding probability.
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 5. Get the sum

Get the sum of the results

obtained in Step 4. Results
obtained is the value of the
variance of probability
distribution.
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 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 standard deviation of the
probability distribution by following
the given steps.
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 Number of Cars Probability P(x)
Sold X
0 10%
1 20%
2 30%
3 20%
4 20%
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 Number of Probability X P(X)
Car Sold X P(X)
0 0.10 0
1 0.20 0.20
2 0.30 0.60
3 0.20 0.60
4 0.20 0.80
Total 2.20

x̄ = ∑x p(x) = 2.20
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 x P(x) X P(X) x - x̄
0 0.10 0 0 – 2.20
= -2.20
1 0.20 0.20 1 – 2.20
= -1.20
2 0.30 0.60 2 – 2.20
= -0.20
3 0.20 0.60 3 – 2.20
= .80
4 0.20 0.80 4 – 2.20
= 1.80
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 x P(x) X P(X) x - x̄
0 0.10 0 -2.20 4.84
1 0.20 0.20 -1.20 1.44
2 0.30 0.60 -0.20 0.04
3 0.20 0.60 0.80 0.64
4 0.20 0.80 1.80 3.24
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 x P(x) X P(X) x - x̄ P(X)

0 0.10 0 -2.20 4.84 0.484

1 0.20 0.20 -1.20 1.44 0.288
2 0.30 0.60 -0.20 0.04 0.012
3 0.20 0.60 0.80 0.64 0.128
4 0.20 0.80 1.80 3.24 0.648
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 x P(x) X P(X) x - x̄ P(X)
0 0.10 0 - 4.84 0.484
2.20
1 0.20 0.20 - 1.44 0.288
1.20
2 0.30 0.60 - 0.04 0.012
0.20
3 0.20 0.60 0.80 0.64 0.128
4 0.20 0.80 1.80 3.24 0.648
TOTAL 1.56
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σ2 = ∑ (x - x̄ )2 p(x) = 1.56
 TO SOLVE THE STANDARD
DEVIATION
σ =

σ =

= 1.25
σ
So, the variable of the number of cars sold per
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day is 1.56 and the standard deviation is 1.25

Activity
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 Activit
y are tossed once,
When three coins
the probability distribution for the
random variable X representing
the number of heads that occur is
given below. Compute the mean,
variance and standard deviation of
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 Number of Probability P(x)
Heads X
0 1/8
1 3/8
2 3/8
3 1/8
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