COMPUTING FOR MEAN AND VARIANCE,

AND INTERPRETING MEAN AND VARIANCE

OF DISCRETE RANDOM VARIABLES

Mean (µ) of a Random Variable Step 3. Multiply (X-µ)2 to the corresponding

probability.
µ= X1•P(X1) + X2•P(X2)+...+Xn•P(Xn) = ∑X•P(X)
Step 4. Get the summation.
Variance (σ2)of a Random Variable
µ=1.5
σ2 = ∑(X - µ)2 • P(X)
X P(X) X-µ (X- (X-µ)2 • P(X)
Standard Deviation (σ) of a Random Variable µ)2
0 1/8 0-1.5= -1.50 2.25 0.28125
2 2
σ = √ σ = √ ( X−µ) ∙ P( X ) 1 3/8 1-1.5= -0.50 0.25 0.09375
2 3/8 2-1.5= 0.50 0.25 0.09375
3 1/8 3-1.5= 1.50 2.25 0.28125

EXAMPLE 1. Suppose that three coins are tossed at Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
the same time. Let X be the random variable
representing the number of tails that occur. Find the
σ2 = ∑(X - µ)2 • P(X)=
mean, variance, and standard deviation of the
0.28125+0.09375+0.09375+0.28125 ≈ 0.75
random variable X.
Step 4

FINDING THE STANDARD DEVIATION

FINDING THE MEAN
σ = √ σ 2 = √ 0.75 ≈ 0.87
Step 1. Identify the Probability Distribution

Step 2. Multiply the value of the random variable by

the corresponding probability ( ∙ 𝑃(𝑋) ) The probability distribution of the number of tails after
tossing a coin three times has the mean, variance and
Step 3. Find ∑X•P(X)
standard deviation of 1.5, 0.75 and 0.87 respectively.
X P(X) X•P(X) The results show that it is expected that the average
0 1/8 0 outcome of all the tosses will be 1.5 tails. In addition,
1 3/8 3/8 the number of tails are near to the mean as indicated
2 3/8 6/8 by the variance and standard deviation.
3 1/8 3/8

Step 1 Step 2
DRILL:

µ= 0 + 3/8 + 6/8 + 3/8 = 3/2 or 1.5 X +1

■ P(X)= for X = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Identify the
2
Step 3 probability distribution, the mean, and the
FINDING THE VARIANCE standard deviation of the random variable X.

Step 1. Give the difference between each value of the

random variable and the mean. (X-µ)
■ Mean is also called as the expected value. The
Step 2. Square the differences between the random mean represents the theoretical average of the all
the outcomes in an event, after multiple times of
variable and the mean. (X-µ)2
execution.
 ■ Variance and Standard Deviation are both
measures of variability. They describe the amount
of spread, dispersion or variability of the items in
a distribution from the mean.

■ Variance represents the squared average distance

of all outcomes from the mean, while standard
deviation is the average distance of all outcomes
from the mean.

The smaller the value of the variance and the standard

deviation denotes that the items of a distribution are closer
from the mean.

Mean, Variance and Standard Deviation are descriptive.

They do not suggest any conclusion.

A dentist may operate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 patients in a day

with probabilities of 0.39, 0.23, 0.17, 0.10, 0.07 and 0.04
respectively. Find the average number of patients that a
dentist operates on a day, variance, and standard
deviation and tell what these values denote.