OBABILITY DISTRIBUTIO

OF DISCRETE RANDOM
VARIABLE
 REVIEW
 Classify each random variable as discrete or continuous.
___1.
D Score of a students in a quiz.
___2.
C The speed of a car.
C Time to finish running 100m
___3.
___4.
C Amount of paint utilized in a building project.
___5.
D The number of deaths per year attributed to lung cancer.
___6.
D The number of dropout in a school district for a period of 15 yrs.
___7. The number of voters favoring a candidate.
D The time needed to finish the test.
___8.
___9.
C The number of eggs a hen lays.
D
OBABILITY DISTRIBUTIO
OF DISCRETE RANDOM
VARIABLE
 PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION
 Distributing Probability weights to all possible values of the random
variable.
 If the random variable is a discrete random variable, the probability
distribution is called a probability mass function or pmf.

 The probability of discrete random variable is sometimes called the

Probability Mass Function (PMF).

 It usually denoted by
 PROPERTIES OF A PROBABILITY
 DISTRIBUTION
NONNEGATIVITY PROPERTY
- The value of the probability mass function is always nonnegative.
-

 NORMING PROPERTY
- indicates that the sum of the probabilities of all values of
the random variable must be equal to 1.
-
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
EXAMPLE 1: Suppose twoDISTRIBUTION
coins are tossed. Let H be the random variable
representing the number of heads that occur. Find the probability of each of the
values of the random variable H.
Sample space = {HH, HT, TT, TH}
STEP 1:
Possible Value of random QUESTIONS:
Outcome variable (H) 1. What is the probability that 1Head and 1 tail occur at
(number of heads) the same time?
HH 2 ANSWER: 2/4
HT 1 2. What is the probability that a head doesn’t occur?
TT 0 ANSWER:
TH 1 1/4
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
EXAMPLE 1: Suppose twoDISTRIBUTION
coins are tossed. Let H be the random variable
representing the number of heads that occur. Find the values of the random variable
H.
Sample space = {HH, HT, TT, TH}
STEP 1: STEP
Possible Value of random 2 : Possible values Probability
Outcome variable (H) (h) P(H)
(number of heads)
HH 2 0
HT 1 1 or
TT 0
2
TH 1
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
NOTE: You can also write DISTRIBUTION
in this form:
Possible values (h) 0 1 2

 The histogram for the Probability Distribution of the Discrete Random Variable H.
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
EXAMPLE 2: Suppose three coins are tossed. Let T be the random variable
representing the number of tails that occur. Find the probability of each of the
values of the random variable T.
Sample space = {HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, TTT, TTH, THT, HTT}
STEP 1:

Possible Outcome HHH HHT HTH THH TTT TTH THT HTT
Value of random variable (T)
0 1 1 1 3 2 2 2
(number of tails)

QUESTIONS:
1. What is the probability that 2 tails and 1 head 2. What is the probability that a tail
occur at the same time? doesn’t occur?
ANSWER: 𝟑 ANSWER: 𝟏
𝟖 𝟖
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
EXAMPLE 2: Suppose three coins are tossed. Let T be the random variable
representing the number of tails that occur. Find the probability of each of the
values of the random variable T.
Sample space = {HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, TTT, TTH, THT, HTT}
STEP 1:

Possible Outcome HHH HHT HTH THH TTT TTH THT HTT
Value of random variable (T)
0 1 1 1 3 2 2 2
(number of tails)
STEP 2:

Possible values (t) 0 1 2 3 This is what we call

Probability The Probability Mass
P(T) Function” of Discrete
Random Variable T.
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
 DISTRIBUTION
The histogram for the Probability Distribution of the Discrete Random Variable T.
Probability P(T)

Number of Tails (T)

 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
EXAMPLE 3: Construct aDISTRIBUTION
probability distribution for rolling a
single die.
Sample space = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

Possible Outcome 1 2 3 4 5 6
Probability P(X) 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
𝟔 𝟔 𝟔 𝟔 𝟔 𝟔
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
EXAMPLE 4: An experiment consist of rolling a pair of dice. Let X be the random
variable representing the absolute value of the difference of the numbers that come
up. Construct the probability mass function of X and draw the corresponding
probability histogram.
2nd Die (columns)
Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 0 1 2 3 4 5
2 1 0 1 2 3 4
(columns)

3 2 1 0 1 2 3
1 st Die

4 3 2 1 0 1 2
5 4 3 2 1 0 1
6 5 4 3 2 1 0
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION
x = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

Possible values (x) 0 1 2 3 4 5

Number of sample points
𝟔 𝟏𝟎 𝟖 𝟔 𝟒 𝟐

Possible values (x) 0 1 2 3 4 5

P(X) or or or or or or
 CONSTRUCTING A PROBABILITY
Possible values (x) 0DISTRIBUTION
1 2 3 4 5
P(X) or or or or or or

 The probability histogram of this experiment is:

𝟎 𝟏 𝟐 𝟑 𝟒 𝟓
EXAMPLE 5: The following data show the probabilities for the number of cars
sold in a given day at a car dealer store.
Number of cars sold Probability P(X)
(X)
0 0.10
a. Find
1 0.15
2 0.25
3 0.14 ¿ 0.10 +0.15+0.25
4 0.09 𝑃 ( 𝑋 ≤ 2 )=0.50
5 0.08
6 0.06
7 0.05
8 0.04
9 0.025
10 0.015
EXAMPLE 5: The following data show the probabilities for the number of cars
sold in a given day at a car dealer store.
Number of cars sold Probability P(X)
(X)
0 0.10
b. Find
1 0.15
2 0.25
3 0.14 ¿ 0.04 + 0.025+0.015
4 0.09
5 0.08
𝑃 ( 𝑋 >7 )=0.08
6 0.06
7 0.05
8 0.04
9 0.025
10 0.015
EXAMPLE 6: The following data show the probabilities for the number of cars
sold in a given day at a car dealer store.
Number of cars sold Probability P(X)
(X)
0 0.10
c. Find
1 0.15
2 0.25
3
4
0.14
0.09
¿ 0.15 +0.25+0.14 +0.09
5
6
0.08
0.06
¿ 0.63
7 0.05
8 0.04
9 0.025
10 0.015
 SEATWOR
The following data show the probabilities for the number of cars sold in a given
day at a car dealer store. K #1
Number of cars sold Probability P(X)
(X) FIND:
0 0.10
1 0.15 1.
2 0.25
3 0.14 2.
4 0.09
5 0.08
3.
6 0.06
4.
7 0.05
8 0.04 5.
9 0.025
10 0.015