MATH-361
Probability and Statistics
Lecture 11
Important Random Variables and their
Distributions
A/P Kamran Aziz Bhatti | Assistant Professor | Dept. of Electrical Engg. | NUST College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering | Pakistan
Important Random Variables
(Discrete)
Random Variables
• Types random variables depend on how they arise in various
applications
• Various random variable are inter-related
• Some random variables are derived as functions of other
random variables
• Discrete random variables arise mostly in applications where
counting is involved
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Bernoulli Random Variable
• Success/failure
• Only two possible values
• 𝐼𝐴 is the RV corresponding to event A
𝑆𝑋 = {0,1}
• pmf:
𝑝𝐼 0 = 1 − 𝑝
𝑝𝐼 1 = 𝑝
• 𝐼𝐴 is called Bernoulli random variable
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Binomial Random Variable
• Bernoulli trial is repeated n times
• Let X be the number of times a certain event A occurs in these
n trials
𝑆𝑋 = 0,1, … , 𝑛
𝑋 = 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 + ⋯ + 𝐼𝑛
• pmf:
𝑛 𝑘
𝑝 𝑋 = 𝑘 = 𝑘 𝑝 (1 − 𝑝)𝑛−𝑘
• 𝑋 is called Binomial random variable
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Binomial Random Variable
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Binomial Random Variable
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Geometric Random Variable
• Let M be the number of independent Bernoulli trials until the
first occurrence of a success
𝑆𝑋 = 1,2, …
• pmf:
𝑃 𝑀 = 𝑘 = 𝑝(1 − 𝑝)𝑘−1
for 𝑘 = 1,2, …
• p is the probability of success
• 𝑀 is called Geometric random variable
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Geometric Random Variable
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Geometric Random Variable
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Poisson Random Variable
• Counting the number of occurrences of an event in certain
time period or space region
• Let 𝛼 the mean (average) number of event occurrences during
a given period of time
• Probability of having exactly k occurrences will be
𝑘
𝛼
𝑃 𝑀=𝑘 = 𝑒−𝛼 for k = 0,1,2,…..
𝑘!
• pmf sums to one
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Poisson Random Variable
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Poisson Random Variable
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Poisson Random Variable
• Limiting form of binomial pmf
• For large n and small p, for 𝛼 = 𝑛𝑝:
𝛼 𝑘
𝑛 𝑘
𝑝𝑘 = 𝑘 𝑝 (1 − 𝑝)𝑛−𝑘≅ 𝑒−𝛼 for k = 0,1,2,…..
𝑘!
• Can be applied to situations where a sequence of Bernoulli
trials can be imagined
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Poisson Random Variable
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Important Random Variables
(Continuous)
Uniform Random Variable
• Arises in situations where all values in an interval of the real
line are equally likely to occur
1
𝑓𝑋 𝑥 = 𝑏 − 𝑎 𝑎≤𝑥≤𝑏
0 𝑥 < 𝑎, 𝑥 > 𝑏
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Exponential Random Variable
• Arises in the modeling of the time between occurrence of events or
modeling the lifetime of various systems
• Let 𝜆 be the rate at which the event occurs
𝑥<0
𝑓𝑋 𝑥 = {0 −𝜆𝑥
𝜆𝑒 𝑥≥0
0 𝑥<0
𝐹𝑋 𝑥 = {
1 − 𝑒 −𝜆𝑥 𝑥≥0
• Memoryless property
𝑃 𝑋 > 𝑡 + ℎ|𝑋 > 𝑡 = 𝑃[𝑋 > ℎ] for all j,k > 1
• The only continuous random variable to satisfy memoryless
property
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Exponential Random Variable
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Gaussian Random Variable
• The MOST occurring random variable
• Sum of a large number of small random variables
• So often, that is why called “Normal” RV
1 2
𝑓𝑋 𝑥 = 𝑒−(𝑥−𝑚)/2𝜎
2𝜋𝜎
(𝑥 −𝑚 )/
1 2 𝑥−𝑚
𝐹𝑋 𝑥 = 𝑒−𝑡 /2 𝑑𝑡 = Φ
2𝜋 −∞ 𝜎
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Gaussian Random Variable
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Gaussian Random Variable
• Q-function is related to the cdf of Gaussian RV
• Q-function is symmetric
• Being used in many electrical engg applications
• Example: Communication system
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Gaussian Random Variable
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Gaussian Random Variable
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