EXPLORING RANDOM

VARIABLES
LESSON OBJECTIVES

• At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

• Illustrate a random variables as discrete or continuous;
and
• Find the possible values of a random variable.
• The set of all possible outcomes of an experiment is
called the SAMPLE SPACE.
ENTRY CARD
EXPERIMENT SAMPLE SPACE

 Tossing three coins  

 Rolling a die and tossing a coin simultaneously  

Drawing a spade from a deck of cards  

Getting a defective item when two items are randomly  

selected from a box of two defective and three non defective
items

Drawing a card greater than 7 from a deck of cards  

ACTIVITY 1 DEFECTIVE CELLPHONES
• Suppose three cell phones are tested at random. We want to find
out the number of defective cell phones that occur. Thus, to each
outcome in the sample space we shall assign a value. These are
0,1,2, or 3. If there is no defective cell phone, we assign the
number 0; if there is 1 defective cell phone, we assign the number
1; if there are two defective cell phones, we assign the number 2;
and 3, if there are three defective cell phones. The number of
defective cell phones is a random variable. The possible values of
this random variable are 0,1,2, and 3.
COMPLETE THE TABLE BELOW TO SHOW THE VALUES OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE
POSIBLE OUTCOMES VALUE OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE X
(NUMBER OF DEFECTIVE CELL PHONES)

   

   

 
RANDOM VARIABLE

• Is a function that associates a real number to each

element in the sample space. It is a variable whose values
are determined by chance
 ACTIVITY 1 TOSSING THREE COINS
• Suppose three coins are tossed. Let Y be the random variable representing the number of tails that
occur. Find the values of the random variable Y. Complete the table below.
POSIBLE OUTCOMES VALUE OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE X
(NUMBER OF TAILS)

   

   

 
 SOLUTION
STEPS SOLUTION
1. Determine the sample space. Let H repesent
head and T represent tail S = { TTT, TTH, THT, HHT, HTH, THH, HHH}
2. Count the number of tails in each outcome in the POSSIBLE OUTCOMES VALUE OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE Y
sample space and assign this number to this outcome. (NUMBER OF TAILS)
 
 TTT 3 
 
TTH 2
 
THT 2
 
HTT 2
 
HHT 1
 
HTH 1
 
THH 1
 
HHH 0

So, the possible values of the random variable Y are 0, 1, 2, and 3

 ACTIVITY 3 DRAWING BALLS FROM AN URN
• Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement from an urn containing 5 red
balls and 6 blue ball. Let Z be the random variable representing the number of blue
balls. Find the values of the random variable Z. Complete the table below.
POSIBLE OUTCOMES VALUE OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE X
(NUMBER OF DEFECTIVE CELL PHONES)

RR  0

RB 1

BR 1

BB 2

So, the possible values of the random variable Y are 0, 1, and 2

MATHEMATICAL JOURNAL

The random variables in the preceding activities are called DISCRETE RANDOM
VARIABLES because the set of possible outcomes is countable.
For In-Class Activity 1, the possible values of random variable X are 0, 1, 2, and
3. The possible values for random variable Y in In-Class Activity 2, are 0, 1, 2 and
3; and in In-Class activity 3, the possible values of random variable z are 0, 1 ,
and 2. Random variables X, Y, Z are discrete random variables.
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
distance is a random variable, then we have an infinite number of distances that
cannot be equated to the number of whole numbers. This is an example of a
CONTINUOUS RANDOM VARIABLE.
 • How do you describe a discrete random variable?
• How do you describe a continuous random variable?
• Give three examples of discrete random variable.
• Give three examples of continuous random variable.

DISCRETE RANDOM VARIABLE – a random variable is a discrete random variable it

its set of possible outcomes is countable.

CONTINUOUS RANDOM VARIABLE – a random variable is a continuous

random variable it it takes on values on a continuous scale.
QUIZ
1. Four coins are tossed. Let Z be the random variable representing the number of head that occur. Find
the values of the random variable Z.

POSIBLE OUTCOMES VALUE OF THE RANDOM VARIABLE X

(NUMBER OF DEFECTIVE CELL PHONES)