Written Assignment Key
Given the table below, answer the questions that follow:
x P(x)
0 0.12
1 0.18
2 0.30
3 0.15
5 0.10
6 0.05
a) Complete the missing probability
In chapter 4, section 4.1 we learned that one of the characteristics of a discrete probability
distribution function is that the sum of the probabilities is one. In the table above, all the
probability should add up to 1 including the missing probability for x=4. We can then solve for
the missing probability as shown below.
x P(x)
0 0.12
1 0.18
2 0.30
3 0.15
1-
4 (0.12+0.18+0.30+0.15+0.10+0.05)
= 0.10
5 0.10
x P(x)
6 0.05
b) What is the expected value from the table?
The formula for the expected value as learned in chapter 4, section 4.2 is as followed:
Therefore, to find the expected value we multiply each value of x with its corresponding
probability and sum the result to obtain the expected value. This is a weighted average or the
center of gravity in physics.
x P(x) X*P(X)
0 0.12 0(0.12) = 0
1 0.18 1(0.18) = 0.18
2 0.30 2(0.30) = 0.60
3 0.15 3(0.15) = 0.45
4 0.10 4(0.10) = 0.40
5 0.10 5(0.10) = 0.50
6 0.05 6(0.05) = 0.30
The expected value = 0+0.18+0.60+0.45+0.40+0.50+0.30 = 2.43
c) Find the standard deviation
The formula for the variance as learned in chapter 4, section 4.2 is as followed:
The variance is then the sum of the square deviation of each value of x from the mean
multiply by its corresponding probability.
The standard deviation is the square root of the variance.
x P(x) X*P(X) (X-µ)2*P(x)
0 0.12 0(0.12) = 0 (0-2.43)2*0.12 = 0.71
1 0.18 1(0.18) = 0.18 (1-2.43)2*0.18 = 0.37
2 0.30 2(0.30) = 0.60 (2-2.43)2*0.30 = 0.055
3 0.15 3(0.15) = 0.45 (3-2.43)2*0.15 = 0.049
4 0.10 4(0.10) = 0.40 (4-2.43)2*0.10 = 0.25
5 0.10 5(0.10) = 0.50 (5-2.43)2*0.10 = 0.66
6 0.05 6(0.05) = 0.30 (6-2.43)2*0.05 = 0.64
The Standard deviation = √(0.71 + 0.37 + 0.055 + 0.049 + 0.25 + 0.66 + 064) = 1.65
