MEAN AND VARIANCE

OF DISCRETE
RANDOM VARIABLE

Presented by:
1
MS. CRIZIA JOY M. TIBAYAN
 Let’s Have this first for review:
Suppose you tossed a fair coin twice. Let X be the
number of heads that are observed.

1. Construct the probability distribution of X.

2. Find the probability that at least one head is

observed.
Solution:

a. The possible values that X can take are 0, 1 and 2. Each of these numbers
corresponds to an event in the sample space S = {HH, HT, TH, TT} of equally
likely outcomes for this experiment.

For X = 0 {TT}
For X = 1 {HT, TH}
For X = 2 {HH}
Therefore, the probability distribution is:
x P(X)
0 ¼ or 0.25
1 2/4 or 0.50
3
2 ¼ or 0.25
EXPECTED VALUE

4
DEFINITION

Expected Value or Mean Value is the sum of the

products of each possible value of a random
variable and the value’s probability. In symbol,

E(X) = µ𝑥 = 𝑋1 • P(𝑋1 ) + 𝑋2 • P(𝑋2 ) + …. + 𝑋𝑛 • P(𝑋𝑛 )

E(X) = µ𝒙 = ∑ X • P(X)
The mean is considered as a measure of the
‘central location’ of a random variable. It is the
weighted average of the values that random
variable X can take, with weights provided by the
probability distribution.
Example 1. Mr. Umali, a Mathematics Teacher, regularly gives a
formative assessment composed of 5 multiple-choice items. After
the assessment, he used to check the probability distribution of
the correct responses, and the data is presented below.

Test Item Probability

X P(X)
0 0.03
1 0.05
2 0.12
3 0.30
4 0.28
5 0.22

What is the average or mean of the given probability distribution?

Using the data, multiply each X value by its probability and add the result to get
the mean (µ𝒙 ) of the expected value (E(X)).

Test Item Probability X • P(X)

X P(X)
0 0.03 0
1 0.05 0.05
2 0.12 0.24
3 0.30 0.9
4 0.28 1.12
5 0.22 1.1
 Test Item Probability X • P(X)
X P(X)
0 0.03 0
1 0.05 0.05
2 0.12 0.24
3 0.30 0.9
4 0.28 1.12
5 0.22 1.1

E(X) = µ𝒙 = ∑ X • P(X)
= 0 + 0.05 + 0.24 + 0.9 + 1.12 + 1.1
E(X) = µ𝒙 = ∑ X • P(X)
= 3.41

It indicates that the expected value or mean of the random variable is 3.41
 VARIANCE
OF
RANDOM VARIABLE
Now that you have calculated the mean or average marks in five tests of
Mathematics, it will be convenient this time to determine the difference in the
scores of each item from the mean or expected value. This difference in marks
shows the variability of the possible values of the random variable.

The variance of a random variable displays the variability or the dispersions of the
random variables. It shows the distance of the random variable from its mean.

The formula in finding the Variance of a Discrete Random Variable x is

Var(X) = σ𝟐 𝒙 = ∑ (X − µ𝒙 ) 𝟐 • P(X)
µ𝒙 = 3.41
Test Item Probability X • P(X) X − µ𝒙 (X − µ𝒙 ) 𝟐 (X − µ𝒙 ) 𝟐 • P(X)
X P(X)
0 0.03 0 - 3.41 11.6281 0.3488
1 0.05 0.05 - 2.41 5.8081 0.2904
2 0.12 0.24 - 1.41 1.9881 0.2386
3 0.30 0.9 - 0.41 0.1681 0.0504
4 0.28 1.12 0.59 0.3481 0.0975
5 0.22 1.1 1.59 2.5181 0.5562
 Test Item Probability X • P(X) X − µ𝒙 (X − µ𝒙 ) 𝟐 (X − µ𝒙 ) 𝟐 • P(X)
X P(X)
0 0.03 0 - 3.41 11.6281 0.3488
1 0.05 0.05 - 2.41 5.8081 0.2904
2 0.12 0.24 - 1.41 1.9881 0.2386
3 0.30 0.9 - 0.41 0.1681 0.0504
4 0.28 1.12 0.59 0.3481 0.0975
5 0.22 1.1 1.59 2.5281 0.5562

Var(X) = σ𝟐 𝒙 = ∑ (X − µ𝒙 ) 𝟐 • P(X)
= 0.3488 + 0.2904 + 0.2386 + 0.0504 + 0.0975 + 0.5562
Var(X) = σ𝟐 𝒙 = 1.5819
Therefore, the variance of the discrete random variable is 1.58
The another way to solve the variance of random variable x
Test Item Probability X • P(X) X𝟐 • P(X)
X P(X)
0 0.03 0 0
1 0.05 0.05 0.05
2 0.12 0.24 0.48
3 0.30 0.9 2.7
4 0.28 1.12 4.48
5 0.22 1.1 5.5
Total ∑ (P(X)) = 1 ∑(X • P(X)) = 3.41 ∑ (X𝟐 • P(X)) = 13.21

Var(X) = σ𝟐 𝒙 = ∑ (X𝟐 • P(X)) − (µ𝒙 )𝟐

= 13.21 − (3.41)2

Var(X) = σ𝟐 𝒙 = 1.5819
Standard Deviation is the square root of variance.
For uniformity of the answers, expected value or mean
and variance are expressed into two decimal places to
𝟐
lessen rounding error. Take note that Var(X) or σ has the
same units as the square of X. So, if X is in meters, then
Var(X) is in meters squared.
If the value of the variance is small, then the values
of the random variable are close to the mean.
 Learning Task 3.1: Daily Sales of Shoes

Study and analyze each situation. Indicate the value being asked in each item.

The number of shoes sold per day at a retail store is shown in the table below, illustrate the
mean and variance of the distribution.
X P(X)
19 0.4

20 0.2

21 0.2

22 0.1

23 0.1

What is the mean of the probability distribution? (Answer should be in two decimal places)
Answer:
 Learning Task 3.1: Daily Sales of Shoes

Study and analyze each situation. Indicate the value being asked in each item.

The number of shoes sold per day at a retail store is shown in the table below, illustrate the
mean and variance of the distribution.
X P(X)
19 0.4

20 0.2

21 0.2

22 0.1

23 0.1

What is the variance of the probability distribution? (Answer should be in two decimal places)
Answer:
 Learning Task 3.1: Daily Sales of Shoes

Study and analyze each situation. Indicate the value being asked in each item.

The number of patients seen in the Emergency room in any given hour is a random
variable represented by X. The probability distribution for X is:
X P(X)
10 0.4

11 0.2

12 0.2

13 0.1

14 0.1

What is the mean of the probability distribution? (Answer should be in two decimal places)
Answer:
 Learning Task 3.1: Daily Sales of Shoes

Study and analyze each situation. Indicate the value being asked in each item.

The number of patients seen in the Emergency room in any given hour is a random
variable represented by X. The probability distribution for X is:
X P(X)
10 0.4

11 0.2

12 0.2

13 0.1

14 0.1

What is the variance of the probability distribution? (Answer should be in two decimal places)
Answer:
The number of cellular phones sold per day at the E-Call retail store with the corresponding probabilities
is shown in the table below. Compute the mean, variance, and the standard deviation and interpret the
result.
Number of cellular phones sold per day in a Probability
retail store (X) P(X)
15 0.30

18 0.20

19 0.20

20 0.15

22 0.15

Is the interpretation true or false?

The mean is equal to 18.2 therefore, it means that the average number of cellular phones sold per
day is 18, whose variance is equal to 5.86

True

False