TOPICS COVERED

• Random Variable
- Probability Distribution Table
• Bernoulli's Trials
• Mean. Variance and Standard
Deviation

Random Variable
Let S be the sa mp le space of a given experiment then a real valued fun ction X :
S ---+ R is call ed random variable.

For example
(a) If a coin is tossed thrice and we define the random variable X as the
number of heads obtained then
X = 0, I, 2,3

(b) If 2 ca rd s are drawn from a well shuffied deck of 52 ca rd s and we define

random variab le X as the number of kings obtained then
X = 0, I, 2

2 r Mdt aa tf.<o,;,n

Probability Distribution
The data di stri bution of probability of elementary events defined by random
variable X is called probability distribution.
E.g.
3 coins are tossed and consider X as random variab le representing the number
of heads. Draw probability distribution table.

Mean= L XP(X)
2

Variance = L 2
X P(X) - ( L XP(X))
 'A P{Y) X P(< ) r' 1/,)
I 3 q. ! :, q
'3 ~ ii i i

~
.,, G It )( ~ _ 12
'I, i i-g
I
-3'o -3'il ' y?, - 1
!. - \
I 0
0 Of.!_ - ()
i i -
Ko·le °,, ~P(t), I :;,!{,) c ~ f,'l>(,)c ~
i

5::-< NHM , Mffl , H'fff ,Tff .... 7

t 11111 , itfl , H"fT , TTT J
A person tosses a coin th rice. If heads comes up, he win s Rs 10 a nd if tails co mes up
he loses Rs 5. What is the mean of the random va riab le X defined as amount won or
Iost '. n
u
0 15/4
X f(><) )' f(• )
3, ~,o,I.,, a fo-1,[Link] ~ ~

0 25/8 ,. 1/i ?.•/i 2 htob =- /Otro - S '=.. -d.

lo - 5--5 ~ ~
Y 15/Z ", Vi ~'Ii
I 1-ite>~ =--

0 h,• .t>i, -- - 5 - 5 - S =-- ;(

e None of th ese 0 s/i
1/-i,
()

- IS/'!, \li t•~ " i><?V) -- I_S_

- I~
"2.-
~ )< _ to

X 0 2 3 Otherwise
P(X) X Zx l.5x Z.5x 0

0 3/7
2 P(,) = I
P{ ,>, 2)

0 1/7 Y .,__2'1-il S- x.-f--ZS ,: +O ::.... I =- P( ys z)-t- P(, c3)

jf 4/7 f r =-- I = I S x + ? r; >
-., ~ 'I, --
e 5/7 -
~x_
':L
-=i

Bernoulli's Trials
In a ra ndom ex perimen t, if there are two events com e ment
to each oth er say one of th em is Success and other is Failure,
th e n any outcome of such experi ment is kn own as Bernoulli's
Trail s. P(~.,,,s,) =r Plii.,lvr•) ='t- ">
---~
p•'l =I

For exam ple n -:. 10

v, 21 9"f
If a dice is rolled 10 times nd getting a six is considered to
be s uccess the n it is known as Be rnoulli's trail s.
P(six) + P(not six)= 1
Here, n = 10 i.e. 10 trials were made for the sa me experiment

P(s""""i =Y(~,) ~ =-P

1<t=i-p= 11
 Binomial Probability Distribution Bf n,pJ
In a Bernoulli's Trials on 'n' independent tri als, th e
probability of exactly ·r successes
P(X = r) = "C, (p)'(q)"·' [,
~

p = probability of success
q = probability of fai lure (Note: p + q = I)
•l ~
f(X) = np ( 1'11,oo) o, ( •p«>'[Link])
Va r(X) = npq
SD(X) = Var(X)

Suppose a co in is tossed 10 times a nd gett ing a head is consid ered to be success.

What is the probability of getting
(y{.Exactl 6 heads .(J,l'At least 1 heads a nd ~At most 9 heads
Also find the Mean, variance and SD.

A medi cine is known to be 75 % effect ive to cure a patient. If the medic in e is given to
5 latients wha t is the probability that at least one atie nt is cured by thi s medicine?

0 1/ 1024

fj 243/ 1024

..,, 1023/1024

C) 78 1/1024
l!I f " ~' ¼'V~
In a lottery, 16 tickets are so ld and 4 rizes arc awarded . If a person buy 4 tickets,
(8)
what is th e probability of his winning a prize?

4 ~ 175
o' ( 16) 2 256
P( I,)"" ,0) c.. I-P( 1,,,a)
=- I - P(x =- o)
0 4 e 81
256
I - '\Co po 'l~
=- I - (~)~
= \- ~ = 17,
2,t, 2, b

The mean and variance of a binomi al di stributi on are 8 and 4 respectively. What is
P(X = 1) equa l to?

1 1 np " g ~r'l = ~
Y \0 96
9 1024
"m = £II -"7 'l, ~ J
:,_
"f
0 2048 e 3
2048 .,,, r· i

• ~(n,p)
Let the random variabl e X fo llows B (6, p). I 16. PX = 4) = P(X = 2) then wh at is th e
va lue of p?

71 ¼
,1,q•
n :ac b
o' 3 lo f(,,, ) = P(,. z-)
,, ~ -,, =
0 4 e 1
6
.t't~ - 16 r ~lx
~ ~ =~
I

bc'1 " tc,_ 'l = ,,.,_

II In eight th rows of a di 5 or 6 is considered as success. Th e mean and standard

A certain type of missi le hits the target with probabi li ty p = 0.3. What is the least
nu mber of missiles sho uld be fi red so that there is at least an 80% probabili ty that
the target is hit?

JY s I- f{x so)
0 6 (o .,) 1 ~ o., '> O 2
9' 1 (o .a)' ~
1
04S '> D· '>

C) None of these (o,) ~ Os 4< '> o:z.

(I ,
1" cc O14DI '> O 2

(o 1)' = Olb'ro'T <o 'L

n Following is a probability of distribution
r I 2 J 4 01h.:rs
or a random variable Y :
/'(>) 2, 15 l i\5 x 2t 0
Find th e va lu e of x .

....
0 2/5

1/5

1/3
Z P(Y)
I, 15
3x.. + L
=
~ -t-.!... -r l:: +2::t:

5
;- D

=- I
~,

~ 4/15 "3 :x_ = 'i. ~ :x. = '.!..

5 Is

ffl The probability distribution of random variable X with two mi ss ing

probabilities p 1 and p 2 is given below:
X I 2 3 4 5
/ '(I) j K l__p,_ : 4_k_ l__p, 2k
If it is further given that P(X $ 2) :;;;: 0.25 and P( X ;?!: 4} = 0.35.
Consider the fo ll owing statements
/1.p, = P,
)(.II. p, + p 2 =
P(X 3) =
Which of the above statem ent(s) is/are true?

. , !only o' ll only

. . Hot h I and I I . . Neither I nor II

1. Pl X) = Kt F,.,. 'll<t- , t-2.I< ~

K-t I ;. O· l-5" p,. + ~\<. = 0 · 35

P, = o IS- P:1. = 0 I S
0 '-5 + ~\<.t 03, ~,
~ J< ~
I -o •l:.

~J< = O ·"f
k =o I

r,.,. r.. = 0 IS-,. 01S

= 0 -3
p, tp, t P(x=,)

ffl
A coi n is tossed 10 times. The number of head s minus the number tail s in 10
tosses is co nsidered as the outco me of the experiment What is the number of
~ in the sample space?

No 1:1 11 H-T
10
~,. "' l!ll T
~
0 ,. ./

!/I n 8 ./

11
• :,.
'~"
_.,,.

21
l
~
3
~ l-
-
V"
s s 0 ~

~ {, - l- ~

_,,
-~
-
99 3 1
l- ~ -1,,
I -'I, ✓
9
./
0 Jo - ID
 1/ 18 P(a.t/~t 3) ~ P/x =- ~) +P(;,,: ~) + f(x =s) t-P(x =,)

3/64 =- 6l~(LS + be,,, (t)' t 'cs{!.-/-,. ,,6 ({) J

~ IS
"'Ji721/32 =-
6~
-t
G•
t-
''" .,. .L,~
• 11 / 16
=
,~
~ 2.
~ .u
3>--

A coi n is tossed 6 times. The proba bility of getting exactly 2 heads is:

• 1/32

• 15/32

. 15/64 IS~ _L )<. L

'1 11,

0 None of th ese

m-
A coin is tossed S tim es. The probability that tail appea rs anl odd numb er of times, is

El p=.L:,_ '!, =- i

•..
. , - 1 /2

1/3
p (x =- 1) -t i(J< =- 3) + p( x=- s-)
2/5 5l ({)' ''3 ( 4_) ' ,/- "c, ({}r

•
I
-t

1/5 10
= 2- + -t l
32-- TL 3 :,_

~ 0 l
3L 2...

A man make atte mpts to hit th e targeL The probability of hitti ng that target is 3/5.
T hen th e probab ility that A hit the target exactly 2 times in 5 attempts is: -

72/3 125

216/625

144/3125

- , 144/625
II
In a four th rows of a pair of dice, the probability of throwing doublets at least twice is:

• 17/ 144
f ' 3b
~=Lb q = J,,. ,-
I,
n =½
""fi:::- 19/ 144

• 7/36
r{ oJ.J,,,,,. 1 -1.,,;u) = f/)1. =2.) +- P(x-- 3) +P(x i 0

0 Noneofthese
= IC,_ (n\~ )'"+ 4,~ (1,/{n + ~C,, {¼ )1

If a fair di e is rolled 4 times, the n what is the probabi lity th at th ere are exact l 2 s·, es?

• 5/216
I') = '1 , F,. t •'L=f
1. 'l-
• 25/2 16 P(xs i.) = \ .1 r

•
'I.,
2
125/2 15 = bX (¼J X (t)'"
0 175/2 16 6x l -,,.
36
w;
3h
i..,-

&lb

What is the probability tha t in a fam ily of 4 ch ild ren the re will be a t least o ne boy?

- - , 15/16 n = '1 p-= i ' 'V'" -2-I

•• 0
3/8

1/16

7/8
P[a,1:leM.t 1) -=
= I-
=
I- r( x= o)
"'c. (i) l ~J
I- L = IS"
(6
0 11

lb

A die is tossed twi ce. Getting a number greate r than 4 is conside red a success.
Tfienthe variance of the probabi lity distribution of thenumber of successes:

~
4/9 n-:;. 2. ,
r= t =i , 'I= x
=<i
•
2/9 ~
'l-~Lll~
5/9
V--~ = "hf'L = 3 3

0 1/3
l!ffl ii r~i. '1: }
Let x denote the numbe r of tim es heads occur inn tosses of a fa ir co in. If

-...
P(x = 4 ), P(x = S) and P(x = 6) are in A P, t hen the value of n is
~ p(,,;) - P(z••) -t-P("-~•)
(0" + "c, (n"
7
,;i "ls Li)n = ~c'1

•
10
1 , ~
* +., -(,-•))
= ,,(,-,)} -
~

12 i;, ( o -S )/
~xS + (,-, )(n-s)
' =
0 15 _,.,.-( • - I ,;,(/0)
b l"·•)
11 (n -• ) = n1._ q n + 5o '3 n ~ 21"" + cii =o
n = 1 , n =I~

n r~::a ~t: 'l :o ~

..-.
In a box co ntaining 100 bu lbs, 10 arc defective. The probability th a t out of a sa mpl e
of 5 bulbs, no ne is defective is

9/ 10
P(xc o)
nos

= s;~
lfo) .C~), (~ > =
(9/ 10) 5

•0
( 1/2) 5

10-•

The mean a nd va ri a nce of a binomi al distri buti on a re 4 a nd 3 res pective ly, the n
the proba bil ity of ge tting exactly six successes in the distribution is:

....
For a bi nom ial distribution B (n, p ), np =
4 and varian ce npq ;;;; 4/3. What is th e
proba bil ity P(x ~ S) equ al to? \,_)'I

4/ 3
~ =
(2/3)°
np ~
=1
3 ~ 'l = ~ '? r =¼ ~ l) ; ~

•
( 1/3)'

P[" ">, 5) = f(s=s) -r ~/x ~•)

(DU) + '(. lk) •
( 1/3)'
= 6 5 I
8 l5
~ (2 /3')

= 6 ~ 2' 2.' 2'

( 3 1"1) = 2%
+ =
3' 3' 3' 31
 Th e mea n and stand ard deviation of a binomial di stributi on are 12 and 2
respectively. Wh at is the number of trail s?

0 2 np = 12.

• 12

;Iris
0 24

A stud ent takes a qui z cons isting of 5 multi le choice questi ons. Ea ch questi on has 4
possibl e a nswers. If a students is guessing the answer at ra ndom and answer to
different arc ind ependent, then the probability of at least one co rrect answer is

0 0.23 7

• 0.0007 6

, 0.7627

Q
llilll
Th e mea n and variance of a bin omial distribut ion are 8 and 4 respectively, th en
p(x :;;; I ) is equal to - -

Yl p _. 8
"J¥'z:, nri ~ ~

•• 0
2"

2''
~
np
~
8

r (., ,J
'? 'l ~ i
II
c,
'
f"

{iSO-)''-
i I fl -:... \6

2" 2~
~
(, X I = ~ I

2." 2" 2..''-

J>f'~ 3 l>f"I,

••
- . -80/2 4 3

40/2 43
9: l p:
3
2
3
" =- ~

20/2 43 P lx 3) > = s~ l]) l A) ._

3

0 10/2 43 ~
10 x!..x1- = 9o
ll.'l a., Jl~3
Ill r~~; ~-1;- 1, ~ ~ " ~,
There is a 25% chance that it rains on any particular day. What is the probability that
there is at least one rainy day within a period of 7 days?