RANDOM VARIABLES
The speed of a bus
-A function that associates a real number to each
element in the sample space.
-It is a variable whose values are determined by chance.
Identify the sample space of the following conditions.
1. Tossing a coin twice
2. Rolling a die and drawing a face card from a
standard deck of cards
3. Drawing a heart card from a standard deck of
cards
Example 1: Suppose that two coins are tossed at the
same time. Let Y be the random variable representing
the number of heads that occur. Find the values of the
random variable Y.
Example 2: Suppose that three coins are tossed at the
same time. Let Y be the random variable representing
the number of tails that occur. Find the values of the
random variable Y.
Example 3: Suppose an experiment is conducted to
determine the distance that a certain type of car will
travel using 10 liters of gasoline over a prescribed test
course. If the distance is a random variable, construct
the table of possible outcomes and value of the random
variable.
-A random variable is a discrete random variable if its
set of possible outcomes is countable. It is represented
by count data. (there is a limit)
-A random variable is a continuous random variable if it
takes on values on a continuous scale. It is represented
by measured data like height, weight, temperature. It is
not defined at specific value but by an interval of values.
(there is no limit).
Example 4:
1. Suppose we flip a coin and count the number of
heads.
Discrete variable
2. Suppose the fire department mandates that all
fire fighters must weigh between 150 and 250
pounds.
Continuous variable
Example 5: Classify the following random variables as
discrete or continuous.
1. The number of voters favoring a candidate
★ discrete
2. The average amount of electricity consumed per
household per month
★ continuous
3. The weight of new-borns each year in a hospital
★ continuous
4.
★ continuous
5. The number of deaths per year attributed to lung
cancer
★ discrete
A discrete probability distribution or a probability mass
function consists of the values a random variable can
assume and the corresponding probabilities of the
values.
A histogram is a graphical method for displaying the
shape of a distribution. It is particularly useful when
there are a large number of observations. 
Properties of a Probability Distribution
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 ΣP(X)=1.
Example 6: Suppose that three coins are tossed at the
same time. Let Y be the random variable representing
the number of tails that occur. Find the values of the
random variable Y.
Example 7: Two balls are drawn in succession without
replacement from an urn containing 5 red balls and 6
blue balls. Let Y be the random variable representing
the number of blue balls. Construct the probability
distribution of the random variable Y and its histogram.
Example 8: Determine whether the distribution
represents a probability distribution. Write YES if the
data represents a probability. Otherwise, write NO.
1.
P(X
1/19 10/19 5/19 2/19 1/19
)
2.
1 1 4 1 1
P ( 0 )=
6
, P ( 2 )= , P ( 4 ) = , P ( 6 )= , P ( 8 )=
6 6 6 6
3.
P ( 1 )=0 , P ( 2 ) =0.71 , P ( 3 ) = 0.39
4.
Seatwork:
Suppose three cell phones are tested at random. Let D
represent the defective cell phone and let N represent
the non-defective cell phone. If we let X be the random
variable for the number of defective cell phones,
construct the probability distribution of the random
variable X and its histogram.