Lesson 1

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LESSON 1: EXPLORING RANDOM VARIABLES

Random Variable

• Sample Space – the set of all possible outcomes of an experiment.

ENTRY CARD
List the sample space of the following experiments
Experiment Sample Space
Tossing two coins HH, TT, HT, TH
Rolling a die and tossing a coin simultaneously H1, H2, …, H6, T1, T2, … T6
Drawing a spade from a deck of cards 1spade, 2spade, …, king pade
Getting a defective item when two items are randomly selected from a D1D2, D1N1, D1N2, D1N3,
box of two defective and three non-defective items D2N1, D2N2, D2N3, N1N2,
N1N3, N2N3
Drawing a card greater than 7 from a deck of cards 8hearts, 8diamond,…

Example 1: DEFECTIVE CELL PHONES


 Suppose three cell phones are tested at random. We want to find out the number of defective cell
phones that occur.
• NNN=0
• DNN=1
• DDN=2
• DDD=3
*The number of defective cell phones is a random variable
*The possible values of this random variable are 0,1,2, and 3.

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.

Value of the Random Variable X


Possible Outcomes
(number of defectives cell phones)
NNN 0
NND 1
NDN 1
DNN 1
NDD 2
DND 2
DDN 2
DDD 3
Example 2: Tossing Three Coins
• Suppose three coins are tossed. Let Y be random variable representing the number of tails that occur.
Find the values of the random variable Y. Complete the table.
Value of the Random Variable Y
Possible Outcomes
(number of tails)

Example 2: Drawing Balls from an Urn


• Two balls are drawn in succession without replacement from an urn containing 5 red balls and 6 blue
balls. Let Z be the random variable representing the number of blue balls. Find the values of the
random variable Z. Complete the table below.
Value of the Random Variable Y
Possible Outcomes
(number of blue balls)

1. Discrete random variable – the set of possible outcomes is countable.


Example:
a. The number of defective computers produced by a manufacturer.
b. The number of siblings in a family of a region

2. Continuous random variable – it takes on values on a continuous scale. Represent measured data,
such as heights, weights, and temperatures.
Example:
a. The weight of newborns each year in a hospital.
b. The amount of paint utilized in a building project.

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