Discrete Distributions
Main Concept
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Random Variables and Probability Distributions
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A random variable is a property of a random process. That is, a process in which it is difficult to predict the outcome. The process may occur many times, and each time, the random variable may have a different value.
A random variable is called discrete if it can have only countably many possible values. In other words, if the set of possible values can be listed, even if this listing continues forever.
Otherwise, the random variable is continuous. Typically, the set of possible values for a continuous random variable forms a range.
For example, the rolling of a die can be considered a random process. The number that shows on the top of the die after the roll is a discrete random variable associated to that process, and the amount of time it takes for the die to stop rolling is an associated continuous random variable.
Each random variable has an associated a probability distribution, which describes, for each value that can have, the probability that it will actually have that value (or in the case of continuous distributions, a value close to it).
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Discrete distributions have nonzero probability at discrete points. A discrete distribution can be represented by a probability mass function which gives, for each possible value x that can have, the probability that it will actually have that value.
Below is a list of the most common discrete distributions:
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Discrete uniform distribution
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Hypergeometric distribution
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Negative binomial (Pascal) distribution
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Change the distributions using the pull down menu and adjust the parameters to see the graphs of the associated probability mass function.
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