LESSON 3: COMPUTING THE MEAN, VARIANCE AND STANDARD DEVIATION OF A DISCRETE

PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION

Formula for the Mean of the Probability Distribution

The mean of a random variable with a discrete probability distribution is:
𝜇 = 𝑋1 ⋅ 𝑃(𝑋1 ) + 𝑋2 ⋅ 𝑃(𝑋2 ) + ⋯ + 𝑋𝑛 ⋅ 𝑃(𝑋𝑛 ) or
𝜇 = Σ 𝑋 ∙ 𝑃(𝑋)
where, 𝑋1, 𝑋2 , 𝑋𝑛 are the values of the random variable X.
𝑃(𝑋1 ), 𝑃(𝑋2 ), 𝑃(𝑋𝑛 ) are corresponding probabilities.
Example 1:
 The probabilities that a customer will buy 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 items in a grocery store are
3 1 1 2 3
, , , , and , respectively. What is the average number of items that a customer will buy?
10 10 10 10 10
Number of Items X Probability P(X) 𝐗 ∙ 𝐏(𝐗)
3 3
1
10 10
1 2
2
10 10
1 3
3
10 10
2 8
4
10 10
3 15
5
10 10
31
Σ 𝑋 ∙ 𝑃(𝑋) = 10 = 3.1

So, the mean of the probability distribution is 3.1. This implies that the average number of items
that the customer will buy is 3.1.

Formula for the Variance and Standard Deviation of the Probability Distribution

The variance of a discrete probability distribution is given by the formulas:

𝜎 2 = Σ(X − μ)2 ∙ 𝑃(𝑋)
The standard deviation of a discrete probability distribution is given by the formula:
𝜎 = √Σ(X − μ)2 ∙ 𝑃(𝑋)
where:
X = value of the random variable
P(X) = probability of the random variable X
𝜇 =mean of the probability distribution
Example 2: Number of Cars Sold
 The number of cars sold per day at a local car dealership, along with its corresponding probabilities, is
shown in the succeeding table. Compute the variance and the standard deviation of the probability
distribution.

𝐗−𝛍 (𝐗 − 𝛍)𝟐 (𝐗 − 𝛍)𝟐 ∙ 𝐏(𝐗)

X P(X) 𝐗 ∙ 𝐏(𝐗)

0 0.1 0 -2.2 4.84 0.484

1 0.2 0.2 -1.2 1.44 0.288

2 0.3 0.6 -0.2 0.04 0.012

3 0.2 0.6 0.8 0.64 0.128

4 0.2 0.8 1.8 3.24 0.648

Σ X ∙ P(X)=2.2 σ2 = Σ(X − μ)2 ∙ P(X) = 1.56

The Variance of the probability distribution is 1.56

The standard deviation is 𝜎 = √1.56 = 1.25

Example 3: Number of Heads

 When three coins are tossed, the probability distribution for the random variable X representing the
number of heads that occur is given below. Compute the variance and standard deviation of the
probability distribution.

Number of 𝐗−𝛍 (𝐗 − 𝛍)𝟐 (𝐗 − 𝛍)𝟐 ∙ 𝐏(𝐗)

Heads P(X) 𝐗 ∙ 𝐏(𝐗)
X
0 0.125

1 0.375

2 0.75

3 0.375