How Is A Discrete Random Variable Defined?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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A discrete random variable has

a countable number of possible values

. The probability of each value of a discrete random variable is between 0 and 1, and the sum of all the probabilities is equal to 1. A continuous random variable takes on all the values in some interval of numbers.

How do you find the discrete random variable?

The mean μ of a discrete random variable X is a number that indicates the average value of X over numerous trials of the experiment. It is computed using the formula

μ=∑xP(x)

.

How do you define a random variable?

A random variable is a variable whose value is unknown or a function that

assigns values to each of an experiment’s outcomes

. A random variable can be either discrete (having specific values) or continuous (any value in a continuous range).

How do you determine the values of a random variable?

Step 1: List all simple events in sample space. Step 2: Find probability for each simple event. Step 3: List possible values for random variable X and identify the value for each simple event. Step 4: Find all simple events for which

X = k

, for each possible value k.

Why is a random variable discrete?

A discrete random variable is

one which may take on only a countable number of distinct values

such as 0,1,2,3,4,…….. Discrete random variables are usually (but not necessarily) counts. If a random variable can take only a finite number of distinct values, then it must be discrete.

What are examples of discrete random variables?

  • The number of eggs that a hen lays in a given day (it can’t be 2.3)
  • The number of people going to a given soccer match.
  • The number of students that come to class on a given day.
  • The number of people in line at McDonald’s on a given day and time.

What is an example of a discrete variable?

Discrete variables are countable in a finite amount of time. For example,

you can count the change in your pocket

. You can count the money in your bank account. You could also count the amount of money in everyone’s bank accounts.

Why do we need random variables?

Random variables are very important in statistics and probability and a must have

if any one is looking forward to understand probability distributions

. … It’s a function which performs the mapping of the outcomes of a random process to a numeric value. As it is subject to randomness, it takes different values.

What is the difference between variable and random variable?

Variable vs Random Variable

A variable is an unknown quantity that has an undetermined magnitude, and random variables are used to represent events in a sample space or related values as a dataset. A random variable itself is a function. Random variables are associated with

probability

and probability density function.

What is the difference between the two types of random variable?

Random variables are classified into discrete and continuous variables. The main difference between the two categories is

the type of possible values that each variable can take

. In addition, the type of (random) variable implies the particular method of finding a probability distribution function.

How do you tell if a random variable is discrete or continuous?

A discrete variable is a variable whose value is obtained by counting. A

continuous variable

is a variable whose value is obtained by measuring. A random variable is a variable whose value is a numerical outcome of a random phenomenon. A discrete random variable X has a countable number of possible values.

What is an example of continuous random variable?

For example, the height of students in a class,

the amount of ice tea in a glass

, the change in temperature throughout a day, and the number of hours a person works in a week all contain a range of values in an interval, thus continuous random variables.

How do you find the mean and variance of a discrete random variable?

For a discrete random variable X, the variance of X is obtained as follows:

var(X)=∑(x−μ)2pX(x)

, where the sum is taken over all values of x for which pX(x)>0. So the variance of X is the weighted average of the squared deviations from the mean μ, where the weights are given by the probability function pX(x) of X.

What are examples of discrete and continuous variables?

Discrete Variable Continuous Variable Examples: Number of planets around the Sun Number of students in a class Examples: Number of stars in the space Height or weight of the students in a particular class

Which is not a discrete random variable?


Blood type

is not a discrete random variable because it is categorical. Continuous random variables have numeric values that can be any number in an interval. For example, the (exact) weight of a person is a continuous random variable. … Continuous random variables are often measurements, such as weight or length.

Can a random variable be both discrete and continuous?

In particular, a

mixed random variable has a continuous part and a discrete part

. Thus, we can use our tools from previous chapters to analyze them.

Charlene Dyck
Author
Charlene Dyck
Charlene is a software developer and technology expert with a degree in computer science. She has worked for major tech companies and has a keen understanding of how computers and electronics work. Sarah is also an advocate for digital privacy and security.