CONSTRUCTING

PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
LEARNING COMPETENCIES:

ILLUSTRATE A PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION FOR

A DISCRETE RANDOM VARIABLE AND ITS
PROPERTIES. M11/12SPIIIA-4
CONSTRUCT THE PROBABILITY MASS FUNCTION
OF A DISCRETE RANDOM VARIABLE AND ITS
CORRESPONDING HISTOGRAM. M11/12SP-IIIA-5
COMPUTE PROBABILITIES CORRESPONDING TO A
GIVEN RANDOM VARIABLE. M11/12SP-IIIA-6
PROPERTIES OF PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS
OF DISCRETE RANDOM VARIABLE

1. THE PROBABILITY OF EACH VALUE OF THE

RANDOM VARIABLE MUST BE BETWEEN OR EQUAL
TO 0 AND 1. IN SYMBOL, WE WRITE IT AS 0 ≤ P(X) ≤ 1.

2. THE SUM OF THE PROBABILITIES OF ALL VALUES

OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE MUST BE EQUAL TO 1. IN
SYMBOL, WE WRITE IT AS ∑P(X) = 1.
EXAMPLE:

SUPPOSE THREE COINS ARE TOSSED.

LET Y BE THE RANDOM VARIABLE
REPRESENTING THE NUMBER OF TAILS
THAT OCCUR. FIND THE PROBABILITY
OF EACH VALUES OF THE RANDOM
VARIABLE Y.
SOLUTION:
STEP 1. DETERMINE THE SAMPLE
SPACE. LET H REPRESENT HEAD AND T
REPRESENT TAIL.

THE SAMPLE SPACE FOR THIS

EXPERIMENT IS:
S= {TTT,TTH,THT,HTT,HHT,HTH,THH,HHH}
SOLUTION:
STEP 2. COUNT THE NUMBER OF TAILS
IN EACH OUTCOME IN THE SAMPLE
SPACE AND ASSIGN A NUMBER TO THIS
OUTCOME.
POSSIBLE OUTCOMES VALUE OF THE
RANDOM VARIABLE Y
(NUMBER OF TAILS)
TTT 3
TTH 2
THT 2
HTT 2
HHT 1
HTH 1
THH 1
HHH 0
SOLUTION:
STEP 3. WRITE THE POSSIBLE VALUES
OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE Y
REPRESENTING NUMBER OF TAILS.
ASSIGN PROBABILITY VALUES P(Y) TO
EACH VALUE OF THE RANDOM
VARIABLE.
NUMBER OF TAILS (Y) PROBABILITY P(Y)

0 1/8

1 3/8

2 3/8

3 1/8
THE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION OR THE PROBABILITY
MASS FUNCTION OF DISCRETE RANDOM VARIABLE Y

NO. 0 1 2 3
OF
TAILS
(Y)

PROB 1/8 3/8 3/8 1/8

ABILI
TY
P(Y)
EXAMPLE:

LET T BE A RANDOM VARIABLE GIVING THE

NUMBER OF HEADS IN THREE TOSSES OF A
COIN. LIST THE ELEMENTS OF THE SAMPLE
SPACE S FOR THE THREE TOSSES OF THE
COIN AND FIND THE PROBABILITY OF EACH
OF THE VALUES OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE
T.
EXAMPLE:
TWO BALLS ARE DRAWN IN SUCCESSION
WITHOUT REPLACEMENT FROM AN URN
CONTAINING 5 RED BALLS AND 6 BLUE
BALLS. LET Z BE THE RANDOM VARIABLE
REPRESENTING THE NUMBER OF BLUE
BALLS. CONSTRUCT THE PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE
Z.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION: