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    5probability Mass Function

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    Rhone Christian Narciso Salcedo
    This document defines and provides examples of a probability mass function (PMF), which describes the probability of discrete random variables taking on particular values. A PMF must satisfy two properties: 1) the probabilities must be greater than or equal to 0, and 2) the total probability across all possible values must be 1. The document provides an example of a PMF where a random variable can take on the values 0, 1, 2, or 3 with equal probability. It also defines the expected value of a discrete random variable as the weighted average of all possible values, where each value is weighted by its respective probability according to the PMF.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    5probability Mass Function

    Uploaded by

    Rhone Christian Narciso Salcedo
    366 views9 pages
    This document defines and provides examples of a probability mass function (PMF), which describes the probability of discrete random variables taking on particular values. A PMF must satisfy two properties: 1) the probabilities must be greater than or equal to 0, and 2) the total probability across all possible values must be 1. The document provides an example of a PMF where a random variable can take on the values 0, 1, 2, or 3 with equal probability. It also defines the expected value of a discrete random variable as the weighted average of all possible values, where each value is weighted by its respective probability according to the PMF.

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    Probability mass function

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    5probability-mass-function

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    This document defines and provides examples of a probability mass function (PMF), which describes the probability of discrete random variables taking on particular values. A PMF must satisfy two properties: 1) the probabilities must be greater than or equal to 0, and 2) the total probability across all possible values must be 1. The document provides an example of a PMF where a random variable can take on the values 0, 1, 2, or 3 with equal probability. It also defines the expected value of a discrete random variable as the weighted average of all possible values, where each value is weighted by its respective probability according to the PMF.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    366 views9 pages

    5probability Mass Function

    Uploaded by

    Rhone Christian Narciso Salcedo
    This document defines and provides examples of a probability mass function (PMF), which describes the probability of discrete random variables taking on particular values. A PMF must satisfy two properties: 1) the probabilities must be greater than or equal to 0, and 2) the total probability across all possible values must be 1. The document provides an example of a PMF where a random variable can take on the values 0, 1, 2, or 3 with equal probability. It also defines the expected value of a discrete random variable as the weighted average of all possible values, where each value is weighted by its respective probability according to the PMF.

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    Mass Function of

    a Discrete Random
    Variable
    Probability Distribution
    ⬗ Consists of the value a random variable
    can assume and its corresponding
    probability.
    ⬗ Describes the probability of each
    specific value in a random variable.

    Probability Mass Function


    ⬗ Probability distribution of a discrete
    random variable.
    2
    Two basic properties
    1. 𝒇 𝒙 = 𝑷 𝑿 ≥ 𝟎 𝒊𝒇 𝒙
    ∈ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝑺
    2. 𝒙∈𝑺 𝒇 𝒙 = 𝒙∈𝑺 𝑷 𝑿 =𝟏

    The set of values that the random


    variable can take
    3
    Example
    Suppose a random variable X can only take the four
    values (0, 1, 2, and 3). If each value has equal
    probability, then its probability mass function is

    𝟏
    𝒊𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟎
    𝟒
    𝟏
    𝒊𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟏 𝟏
    𝟒 𝒊𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝒐𝒓 𝟑
    𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟏
    𝒊𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟐 or 𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟒
    𝟒
    𝟏
    𝟎, 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒆
    𝟒
    𝒊𝒇 𝒙 = 𝟑
    𝟎, 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒆
    “
    Let f(x)=kx for x=1, 2, 3, 4.
    find k so that f(x) satisfies
    the two properties of being a
    probability mass function.

    5
    More examples
    ⬗ Consider the pmf:
    1
    𝑓 𝑥 = 6 𝑥 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 ∈ {1, 2, 3}
    0, 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
    Show that P(X) is indeed a probability mass function
    ⬗ Consider the pmf:
    1 2
    𝑓 𝑥 = 30 𝑥 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 ∈ {1, 2, 3}
    0, 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
    Show that f(x) is indeed a probability mass function.
    6
    Expected value of a discrete
    random variable
     Denoted by E(X)
     The weighted average of the elements
    x in the support S where each element
    is weighted by its respective
    probability
     𝐸 𝑋 = 𝑥 • 𝑓(𝑥)

    7
    Example
    Let X be a discrete Let X be a discrete
    random variable and S={0, random variable and S={
    1, 2, 3} be its support. 1, 2, 3} be its support.
    With the pmf of X given With the pmf of X given
    below, below,
    1 1
    , 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 ∈ 𝑆 𝑥, 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 ∈ 𝑆
    𝑓 𝑥 = 4 𝑓 𝑥 = 6
    0, 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 ∈ 𝑆 0, 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 ∈ 𝑆
    Compute the expected value Compute the expected value
    of X of X
    8
    Exercise
    Let f(x)=kx for x=2, 3, 4. Find k so that the function of
    f(x) satisfies the two properties of a probability mass
    function.
    Compute the expected value.

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