STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY

MARCELINO FULE MEMORIAL COLLEGE

ALAMINOS, LAGUNA
S.Y. 2021-2022

Learning Material for Statistics and Probability

Grade-XI

Name: Sir. Francis Kenneth L. Berina

Duration: February 7-18 2022 Grade Level and Section:

I. CONTENT STANDARD
The Learners demonstrates understanding of key concepts of Random variables and Probability
distributions.

II. PERFORMANCE STANDARD

The learner is able to apply an appropriate random variable for a given real-life problem (such as in
decision making and games of chance).

III. LEARNING COPETENCIES

The learner:
1. illustrates a random variable (discrete and continuous).
2. distinguishes between a discrete and a continuous random variable.
3. finds the possible values of a random variable.
4. illustrates a probability distribution for a discrete random variable and its
properties.
5. constructs the probability mass function of a discrete random variable and its
corresponding histogram.
6. computes probabilities corresponding to a given random variable.
7. illustrates the mean and variance of a discrete random variable.
8. calculates the mean and the variance of a discrete random variable.
9. interprets the mean and the variance of a discrete random variable.
10. solves problems involving mean and variance of probability distributions.
IV. CONTENT
• Random Variables and Probability Distributions
a. Introduction of Statistics
b. Data collection Activity

V. LESSON PROPER

LESSON 3: BASIC TERMS OF STATISTICS

As continuation of Lesson 2 (where we contextualize data) in this lesson we define basic

terms in statistics as we continue to explore data. These basic terms include the universe,
variable, population and sample. In detail we will discuss other concepts in relation to a
variable.

A. Recall previous lesson on ‘Contextualizing Data’

Compiled data set in a table like this:

Our responses
are the following:
• The information gathered include Class Student Number, Sex, Number of Siblings,
Weight, Height, Age of Mother, Usual Daily Allowance in School, Usual Daily Food
Expenditure in School, Usual Number of Text Messages Sent in a Day, Most
STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY
Preferred Color, Usual Sleeping Time and Happiness Index.
• The units of measurement for the information on Number of Siblings, Weight, Height,
Age of Mother, Usual Daily Allowance in School, Usual Daily Food Expenditure in
School, and Usual Number of Text Messages Sent in a Day are person, kilogram,
centimeter, year, pesos, pesos and message, respectively.

I. Definition of Basic Terms

The collection of respondents from whom one obtain the data is called the universe of the
study. In our illustration, the set of students of this Statistics and Probability class is our
universe. But we must precaution the students that a universe is not necessarily composed of
people. Since there are studies where the observations were taken from plants or animals or
even from non-living things like buildings, vehicles, farms, etc. So formally, we define
universe as the collection or set of units or entities from whom we got the data. Thus, this
set of units answers the first Ws of data contextualization.

On the other hand, the information we asked from the students are referred to as the variables
of the study and in the data collection activity, we have 12 variables including Class Student
Number. A variable is a characteristic that is observable or measurable in every unit of the
universe. From each student of the class, we got the his/her age, number of siblings, weight,
height, age of mother, usual daily allowance in school, usual daily food expenditure in
school, usual number of text messages sent in a day, most preferred color, usual sleeping time
and happiness index for the day. Since these characteristics are observable in each and every
student of the class, then these are referred to as variables.

The set of all possible values of a variable is referred to as a population. Thus for each
variable we observed, we have a population of values. The number of population in a study
will be equal to the number of variables observed. In the data collection activity we had, there
are 12 populations corresponding to 12 variables.

A subgroup of a universe or of a population is a sample. There are several ways to take a

sample from a universe or a population and the way we draw the sample dictates the kind of
analysis we do with our data.

II. Broad Classification of Variables

Following up with the concept of variable, inform the students that usually, a variable takes
on several values. But occasionally, a variable can only assume one value, then it is called a
constant. For instance, in a class of fifteen-year olds, the age in years of students is constant.
Variables can be broadly classified as either quantitative or qualitative, with the latter further
classified into discrete and continuous types (see Figure 3.3 below).
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• Qualitative variables express a categorical attribute, such as sex (male or female),
religion, marital status, region of residence, highest educational attainment. Qualitative
variables do not strictly take on numeric values (although we can have numeric codes for
them, e.g., for sex variable, 1 and 2 may refer to male, and female, respectively).
Qualitative data answer questions “what kind.” Sometimes, there is a sense of ordering in
qualitative data, e.g., income data grouped into high, middle and low-income status. Data
on sex or religion do not have the sense of ordering, as there is no such thing as a weaker
or stronger sex, and a better or worse religion. Qualitative variables are sometimes
referred to as categorical variables.

• Quantitative (otherwise called numerical) data, whose sizes are meaningful, answer
questions such as “how much” or “how many”. Quantitative variables have actual units of
measure. Examples of quantitative variables include the height, weight, number of
registered cars, household size, and total household expenditures/income of survey
respondents. Quantitative data may be further classified into:

a. Discrete data are those data that can be counted, e.g., the number of days for
cellphones to fail, the ages of survey respondents measured to the nearest year, and
the number of patients in a hospital. These data assume only (a finite or infinitely)
countable number of values.

b. Continuous data are those that can be measured, e.g. the exact height of a survey
respondent and the exact volume of some liquid substance. The possible values are
uncountably infinite.

Special Note:
For quantitative data, arithmetical operations have some physical interpretation. One can add
301 and 302 if these have quantitative meanings, but if, these numbers refer to room
numbers, then adding these numbers does not make any sense. Even though a variable may
take numerical values, it does not make the corresponding variable quantitative! The issue is
whether performing arithmetical operations on these data would make any sense. It would
certainly not make sense to sum two zip codes or multiply two room numbers.

KEY POINTS
• A universe is a collection of units from which the data were gathered.
• A variable is a characteristic we observed or measured from every element of the
• universe.
• A population is a set of all possible values of a variable.
• A sample is a subgroup of a universe or a population.
• In a study there is only one universe but could have several populations.
• Variables could be classified as qualitative or quantitative, and the latter could be further classified as
discrete or continuous.
STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY
ASSESSMENT

1. A market researcher company requested all teachers of a particular school to fill up a

questionnaire in relation to their product market study. The following are some of the
information supplied by the teachers:

• highest educational attainment

• predominant hair color
• body temperature
• civil status
• brand of laundry soap being used
• total household expenditures last month in pesos
• number of children in the household
• number of hours standing in queue while waiting to be served by a bank teller
• amount spent on rice last week by the household
• distance travelled by the teacher in going to school
• time (in hours) consumed on Facebook on a particular day

If we are to consider the collection of information gathered through the completed

questionnaire, what is the universe for this data set? (The universe is the set of all
teachers in that school)
b. Which of the variables are qualitative? Which are quantitative? Among the quantitative
variables, classify them further as discrete or continuous.
• highest educational attainment
• predominant hair color
• body temperature
• civil status
• brand of laundry soap being used
• total household expenditures last month in pesos
• number of children in a household
• number of hours standing in queue while waiting to be served by a bank teller
• amount spent on rice last week by a household
• distance travelled by the teacher in going to school
• time (in hours) consumed on Facebook on a particular day

c. Give at least two populations that could be observed from the variables identified in (b).

2. The Engineering Department of a big city did a listing of all buildings in their locality. If
you are planning to gather the characteristics of these buildings,

a. what is the universe of this data collection activity?

b. what are the crucial variables to observe? It would also be better if you could classify the
variables as to whether it is qualitative or quantitative. Furthermore, classify the
quantitative variable as discrete or continuous.

3. A survey of students in a certain school is conducted. The survey questionnaire details

the information on the following variables. For each of these variables, identify whether
the variable is qualitative or quantitative, and if the latter, state whether it is discrete or
continuous.

a. number of family members who are working

b. ownership of a cell phone among family members
c. length (in minutes) of longest call made on each cell phone owned per month
d. ownership/rental of dwelling
e. amount spent in pesos on food in one week
f. occupation of household head
g. total family income
h. number of years of schooling of each family member
i. access of family members to social media
j. amount of time last week spent by each family member using the internet