Unit 1

Random Variables &

Probability Distributions
1.1

Random Variables
 Objectives:
 Illustrate a random variable (discrete and
continuous);
 Distinguish between discrete and continuous;
 Find the possible values of a random variable;
and
 Illustrate a probability distribution for a discrete
random variable and its properties.
 Compute probabilities corresponding to a given
random variables.
 Random Variables

A random variable is a function that

associates a real number to each element
in the sample space. It is also a variable
whose possible values are determined by
chance. It is typically represented by an
uppercase letter, usually X (but you can
use any letters).
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 Example: Random Variables

A coin is tossed thrice. Let the

variable X be the random variable
representing the number of heads
that occur.

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 Example: Random Variables

A coin is tossed thrice. Let the

variable X be the random variable
representing the number of tails
that occur.

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 Example: Random Variables

Two balls are drawn in succession

without replacement from an urn
containing 5 red balls and 6 blue
balls. Let X be the random
variable representing number of
blue balls.
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 Random Variables
A random variable can either be discrete and continuous.

A random variable is discrete if it has a finite or countable number of

possible outcomes that can be listed.

x
0 2 4 6 8 10

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 Examples
1. Number of students randomly selected to be
interviewed by a researcher.
2. Number of left-handed teachers randomly
selected in a faculty room.
3. Number of defective light bulbs among the
randomly selected light bulbs.
4. Number of women randomly selected in a
political rally.
5. Amount of weekly allowance.
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 Random Variables

A random variable is continuous if it has an

uncountable number or possible outcomes,
represented by the intervals on a number line.

x
0 2 4 6 8 10

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 Examples
1. The weights of randomly selected students in
kilograms.
2. The lengths of randomly selected shoes of senior
high school students in centimeters.
3. The hourly temperatures last Sunday.
4. The heights of daisy plants in the backyard.
5. The height of a randomly selected student inside
the library in centimeter.

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 Try to answer!
1. The time needed to finish the test.
2. The weights in pounds of newly born babies
in a hospital nursery.
3. The number of cars in a parking lot every
noon.
4. The length of time spent in playing video
games in minutes.
5. The amount of money spent by a family in
one month.
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6. The number of books you borrowed in the
library during your elementary years.
7. The capacity of water dams in a region.
8. The lifetime in hours of 15 flashlights.
9. The average weight of female athletes.
10. The speed of a car.

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 Definition of terms!
 Experiment or trial- any activity which can be
done repeatedly under similar conditions.
Sample Space- the set of all possible outcomes
in an experiment.
Event- subset of a sample space.
Outcome- elements in a sample space.
Probability- the ratio of the number of
favorable outcomes to the number of possible
outcomes.

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 Discrete Probability Distributions
A discrete probability distribution lists each possible value the random variable can assume,
together with its probability. A probability distribution must satisfy the following conditions.

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 Discrete Probability Distributions

In Words In Symbols

1. The probability of each value of the 0  P (x)  1

discrete random variable is between
0 and 1, inclusive.

2. The sum of all the probabilities is ΣP (x) = 1

1.

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 Try! Find the Probability of the following
Events
1. Getting an even number in a single roll of a die.
2. Getting a sum of 6 when two dice are rolled.
3. Getting an ace when a card is drawn from a deck.
4. Getting a sum of 11 when two dice are rolled.
5. Getting a 10 black card when a card is drawn from a deck.
Answer:
1. In rolling a die, there are 6 possible sample space,
which can be (1,2,3,4,5,6). Then we have 3 possible
outcomes, the even numbers 2,4,6. Since there are 3
possible outcomes (the even numbers in rolling a die)
and a 6 possible sample space (1,2,3,4,5,6), therefore
probability is 3/6 or ½.
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 Try! Find the Probability of the following
Events
1. Getting an even number in a single roll of a die.
2. Getting a sum of 6 when two dice are rolled.
3. Getting an ace when a card is drawn from a deck.
4. Getting a sum of 11 when two dice are rolled.
5. Getting a 10 black card when a card is drawn from a deck.
Answer:
2. In rolling two dice, there are possible 36 possible sample space and 5
possible sample outcomes. Therefore, the probability is 5/36.
1 2 3 4 5 6

1 (1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)

2 (1,2) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)

3 (1,3) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)

4 (1,4) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6) Sample Space

5 (1,5) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)

6 (1,6) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)

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 Try! Find the Probability of the following
Events
1. Getting an even number in a single roll of a die.
2. Getting a sum of 6 when two dice are rolled.
3. Getting an ace when a card is drawn from a deck.
4. Getting a sum of 11 when two dice are rolled.
5. Getting a 10 black card when a card is drawn from a deck.

Answer:
3. In a deck of a card, there are 52 possible sample
space. And from that, we know that there are 4
aces (the A’s of heart, diamond, club and spade.
Therefore, the probability is 4/52 or 1/13.

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 Try! Find the Probability of the following
Events
1. Getting an even number in a single roll of a die.
2. Getting a sum of 6 when two dice are rolled.
3. Getting an ace when a card is drawn from a deck.
4. Getting a sum of 11 when two dice are rolled.
5. Getting a 10 black card when a card is drawn from a deck.
Answer:
4. In rolling two dice, there are possible 36 possible sample space and 2
possible sample outcomes. Therefore, the probability is 2/36 or 1/18.
1 2 3 4 5 6

1 (1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)

2 (1,2) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)

3 (1,3) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)

4 (1,4) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6) Sample Space

5 (1,5) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)

6 (1,6) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)

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 Try! Find the Probability of the following
Events
1. Getting an even number in a single roll of a die.
2. Getting a sum of 6 when two dice are rolled.
3. Getting an ace when a card is drawn from a deck.
4. Getting a sum of 11 when two dice are rolled.
5. Getting a 10 black card when a card is drawn from a deck.

Answer:
5. In a deck of a card, there are 52 possible sample
space. And from that, we know that there are 2
10-black cards(the 10’s of a club and spade.
Therefore, the probability is 2/52 or 1/26.

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 Example 1: Random Variables
Suppose two coins are tossed and we are
interested to determine the number of
tails that will come out. Let us use T to
represent the number of tails that will
come out. Determine the values of the
random variable T.

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 Example 1: Random Variables
Suppose two coins are tossed and we are interested to determine the
number of tails that will come out. Let us use T to represent the
number of tails that will come out. Determine the values of the
random variable T.
Steps Solution
Solution:
1. List the Sample Space S={HH, TT, TH, HT}

Outcome Value of Tails

2. Count the number of tails
in each outcome HH 0
TT 2
TH 1
HT 1

Conclusion The values of the random variable T

(number of tails) in the experiment are
0,1, and 2.

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 Example 2: Random Variables
A pair of dice is rolled. Let X be the
random variable representing the sum of
the number of dots on the top faces. Find
the values of the random variable X.

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 Example 2: Random Variables
Solution:
1. List of Sample Space
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 (1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)
2 (1,2) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)
3 (1,3) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)
4 (1,4) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6)
5 (1,5) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)
6 (1,6) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)
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Example 2: Random Variables
2. Count the sum of Outcome Values of X
the number of dots (1,1) 2
in each outcome and (2,1), (1,2) 3
assign this number to
(3,1), (2,2), (1,3) 4
this outcome.
(4,1), (3,2), 2,3), (1,4) 5
(5,1), (4,2), (3,3), (2,4), (1,5) 6
(6,1), (5,2), (4,3), (3,4), (2,5), (1,6) 7
(6,2), (5,3),(4,4), (3,5), (2,6) 8
(6,3),(5,4), (4,5), (3,6) 9
The values of the random (6,4), (5,5), (4,6) 10
variable X(sum of the number (6,5),(5,6) 11
of dots) in the experiment are:
(6,6) 12
2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,and 12

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Constructing Probability
Distribution
NOTE: It is just a continuation of the previous part.
We just need to illustrate and compute the probabilities
corresponding to a given random variable.

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 Using Example 1
Suppose two coins are tossed and we are interested to determine the
number of tails that will come out. Let us use T to represent the
number of tails that will come out. Determine the values of the
random variable T.
Steps Solution
Solution:
1. List the Sample Space S={HH, TT, TH, HT}

Outcome Value of Tails

2. Count the number of tails
in each outcome HH 0
TT 2
TH 1
HT 1

Conclusion The values of the random variable T

(number of tails) in the experiment are
0,1, and 2.

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 Using Example 1
Continuation of Solution:
3. Construct the frequency distribution of the values
of the random variable T.

Value of T Frequency

0 1 Frequency that no Tail occurs

1 2 Frequency that one Tail occurs

2 1 Frequency that two Tails occurs

TOTAL 4

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 Using Example 1
Continuation of Solution:
4. Construct the probability distribution of the random variable T
by getting the probability of occurrence of each value of the
random variable.

Probability
Value of T Frequency
P(T)
0 1 ¼ Frequency
1 2 2/4 or ½ over the
total
2 1 ¼ frequency
TOTAL 4 1
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 Using Example 1
Continuation of Solution:
The Probability distribution of the random variable T can be
written as follows:
T 2 1 0
P(T) 1/4 1/2 1/4

5. Construct the Probability histogram

½
P(T)
¼
0 1 2
T
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 Using Example 2
A pair of dice is rolled. Let X be the
random variable representing the sum of
the number of dots on the top faces. Find
the values of the random variable X.

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 Using Example 2
Solution:
1. List of Sample Space
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 (1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)
2 (1,2) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)
3 (1,3) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)
4 (1,4) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6)
5 (1,5) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)
6 (1,6) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)
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 Using Example 2
2. Count the sum of Outcome Values of X
the number of dots (1,1) 2
in each outcome and (2,1), (1,2) 3
assign this number to
(3,1), (2,2), (1,3) 4
this outcome.
(4,1), (3,2), 2,3), (1,4) 5
(5,1), (4,2), (3,3), (2,4), (1,5) 6
(6,1), (5,2), (4,3), (3,4), (2,5), (1,6) 7
(6,2), (5,3),(4,4), (3,5), (2,6) 8
(6,3),(5,4), (4,5), (3,6) 9
The values of the random (6,4), (5,5), (4,6) 10
variable X(sum of the number (6,5),(5,6) 11
of dots) in the experiment are:
(6,6) 12
2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,and 12

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 Using Example 2
Continuation of Solution:
3. Construct the frequency distribution of the values of the
random variable X. Value of X Frequency

2 1
3 2
4 3
5 4
6 5
7 6
8 5
9 4
10 3
11 2
12 1
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 Using Example 2
Continuation of Solution:
4. Construct the probability distribution of the random variable X by getting the
probability of occurrence of each value of the random variable.
Probability
Value of X Frequency
P(X)
2 1 1/36
3 2 2/36 or 1/18
4 3 3/36 or 1/ 12
5 4 4/36 or 1/9
6 5 5/36
7 6 6/36 or 1/6
8 5 5/36
9 4 4/36 or 1/9
10 3 3/36 or 1/ 12
11 2 2/36 or 1/18
12 1 1/36
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TOTAL Statistics: Picturing the
1 World, 3e 36
 Using Example 2

Continuation of Solution:

The Probability distribution of the random variable X can be

written as follows:

X 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
P(X) 1/36 1/18 1/12 1/9 5/36 1/6 5/36 1/9 1/12 1/18 1/36

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 Using Example 2
Continuation of Solution:
5. Construct the Probability histogram

1/6
5/36
1/9
1/12
1/18
1/36
P(X) 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

T
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 Proverbs 2:6
For the LORD gives wisdom, and
from His mouth come knowledge
and understanding.
GOD BLESS 

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