RANDOM VARIABLE:

Defective Light Bulbs

Suppose a factory produces light bulbs, and a quality control team randomly selects 4
light bulbs from a batch to test for defects. They want to determine the number of
defective light bulbs among the sample. Each light bulb can either be defective (D) or
non-defective (N). Letting X be the random variable representing the number of defective
light bulbs, we can assign values to each outcome in the sample space.

Solution:

We can tabulate the outcomes along with their corresponding values:

 If all 4 light bulbs are non-defective (NNNN), the value of X is 0.

 If 3 light bulbs are non-defective and 1 is defective (NNND, NNDN, NDNN,
DNNN), the value of X is 1.
 If 2 light bulbs are non-defective and 2 are defective (NNDD, NDDN, NDND,
DNND, DNDN, DDNN), the value of X is 2.
 If 1 light bulb is non-defective and 3 are defective (NDDD, DNDD, DDND, DDDN),
the value of X is 3.
 If all 4 light bulbs are defective (DDDD), the value of X is 4.

Outcome (Defective/Non-defective) Number of Defective Light Bulbs (X)

NNNN (All non-defective) 0
NNND, NNDN, NDNN, DNNN (1 defective) 1
NNDD, NDDN, NDND, DNND, DNDN, DDNN (2 defective) 2
NDDD, DNDD, DDND, DDDN (3 defective) 3
DDDD (All defective) 4

Thus, the random variable X representing the number of defective light bulbs can take on
values 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Discrete Random Variable: The number of siblings per family in a region.

Example: Consider a survey conducted in a region to determine the number of siblings each family
has. The number of siblings can take on discrete values such as 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on, because you can't
have a fraction of a sibling.

Discrete Random Variable: The number of girls in a grade level who are varsity athletes.

Example: In a high school, the number of girls who participate in varsity athletics can be counted. For
example, there might be 0, 1, 2, or more girls participating, but you can't have a fraction of a girl
participating in varsity athletics. Therefore, the number of girls is a discrete random variable.

Continuous Random Variable: The weight of newborn babies each year in a hospital.
Example: In a hospital, the weights of newborn babies can vary continuously within a certain range,
from very light to very heavy. For instance, a baby may weigh 2.3 kg, another 3.6 kg, and another 4.8
kg. Since weight can take on any value within a range, it is considered a continuous random variable.

Discrete Random Variable: The number of people who play lotto each day.

Example: The number of people playing lotto each day can be counted as whole numbers. For
instance, there might be 100, 200, or 500 people playing lotto on a given day, but you can't have a
fraction of a person participating. Therefore, the number of people playing lotto is a discrete random
variable.

DISCRETE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION

Number of Defective Products in a Manufacturing Process

Problem: Suppose a factory produces electronic components, and a quality

control team randomly selects 5 components from a batch to test for defects.
Let X be the random variable representing the number of defective
components among the 5 selected. Find the probability of each value of X.

Step 1: Determine the sample space. Let D represent defective components

and N represent non-defective components. The sample space for this
experiment is S - {NNNNN, DNNNN, NDNNN, NNDNN, NNNDN, NNNND,
DDNNN, DNDNN, DNNDN, NDDNN, NDNDN, NDNND, NNDDN, NNDND,
NNNDD, DDDNN, DDNDN, DNDND, DNDDN, NDDDN, NDDDN, DDDDN,
DDDDD}.

Step 2: For each outcome, count the number of defective components and
assign this number to the outcome.

Step 3: There are 6 possible values of the random variable X representing the
number of defective components: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Assign a probability P(X)
to each value of the random variable. To do this, take the ratio of the number
of possible outcomes corresponding to the value of X and the total number of
possible outcomes (which is 32 in this case).

Using the information from the sample space, we can determine the
probabilities as follows:

 P(X=0) = 1/32 (There is 1 outcome with 0 defective components)

 P(X=1) = 5/32 (There are 5 outcomes with 1 defective component)
 P(X=2) = 10/32 (There are 10 outcomes with 2 defective components)
 P(X=3) = 10/32 (There are 10 outcomes with 3 defective components)
 P(X=4) = 5/32 (There are 5 outcomes with 4 defective components)
 P(X=5) = 1/32 (There is 1 outcome with 5 defective components)
Now, we have the probability distribution for the random variable X:

X (Number of Defective Components) Probability (P(X))

0 1/32
1 5/32
2 10/32
3 10/32
4 5/32
5 1/32

Computing the Mean of a Discrete Probability Distributions

This probability distribution provides the likelihood of each possible outcome

(number of defective components) occurring in the manufacturing process.
Computing the Variance of a Discrete Probability Distributions

So, the variance of the number of defective components in the manufacturing

process is 1.25.

2. Problem: A shipment of 5 computers contains 2 that are slightly defective. If

a retailer receives 3 of these computers at random, let X be the random
variable representing the number of computers purchased by the retailer that
are slightly defective.

Step 1: Determine the sample space. Let's label the computers as D for
defective and N for non-defective. The sample space for selecting 3
computers out of 5 is S - {DDD, DDN, DND, DNN, NDD, NDN, NND, NNN}.

Step 2: For each outcome, count the number of defective computers and
assign this number to the outcome.

Step 3: There are 4 possible values of the random variable X representing the
number of defective computers purchased by the retailer: 0, 1, 2, and 3. Assign
a probability P(X) to each value of the random variable. To do this, take the
ratio of the number of possible outcomes corresponding to the value of X and
the total number of possible outcomes.

Using the information from the sample space, we can determine the
probabilities as follows:

 P(X=0) = 1/8 (There is 1 outcome where 0 defective computers are

purchased)
 P(X=1) = 3/8 (There are 3 outcomes where 1 defective computer is
purchased)
 P(X=2) = 3/8 (There are 3 outcomes where 2 defective computers are
purchased)
 P(X=3) = 1/8 (There is 1 outcome where all 3 purchased computers are
defective)

Now, we have the probability distribution for the random variable X:

X (Number of Defective Computers Purchased) Probability (P(X))

0 1/8
1 3/8
2 3/8
3 1/8

This probability distribution provides the likelihood of each possible outcome

(number of defective computers purchased by the retailer) occurring in the
shipment.
Computing the Variance of a Discrete Probability Distributions