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Question

Consider a discrete random variable X whose probabilities are given below. The standard deviation of the random variable is ________ (round off to one decimal place).

$x_1$1234
$P(X = x_i)$0.30.10.30.3

Calculating Standard Deviation for a Discrete Random Variable

To find the standard deviation of the discrete random variable X, we first need to calculate its expected value (mean) and variance.

Probability Distribution Table

$x_i$ 1 2 3 4
$P(X = x_i)$ 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.3

Step 1: Calculate Expected Value (Mean, $E[X]$)

The expected value is calculated as the sum of each value multiplied by its probability.

$ E[X] = \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i P(X = x_i) $

Using the given data:

$ E[X] = (1 \times 0.3) + (2 \times 0.1) + (3 \times 0.3) + (4 \times 0.3) $

$ E[X] = 0.3 + 0.2 + 0.9 + 1.2 $

$ E[X] = 2.6 $

Step 2: Calculate Expected Value of $X^2$ ($E[X^2]$)

This is needed to calculate the variance. It's the sum of each squared value multiplied by its probability.

$ E[X^2] = \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i^2 P(X = x_i) $

Using the given data:

$ E[X^2] = (1^2 \times 0.3) + (2^2 \times 0.1) + (3^2 \times 0.3) + (4^2 \times 0.3) $

$ E[X^2] = (1 \times 0.3) + (4 \times 0.1) + (9 \times 0.3) + (16 \times 0.3) $

$ E[X^2] = 0.3 + 0.4 + 2.7 + 4.8 $

$ E[X^2] = 8.2 $

Step 3: Calculate Variance ($Var(X)$)

The variance is calculated using the formula:

$ Var(X) = E[X^2] - (E[X])^2 $

Substituting the calculated values:

$ Var(X) = 8.2 - (2.6)^2 $

$ Var(X) = 8.2 - 6.76 $

$ Var(X) = 1.44 $

Step 4: Calculate Standard Deviation ($SD(X)$)

The standard deviation is the square root of the variance.

$ SD(X) = \sqrt{Var(X)} $

$ SD(X) = \sqrt{1.44} $

$ SD(X) = 1.2 $

Rounding to one decimal place, the standard deviation is 1.2.

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Important Questions from Random Variables

  1. Let $X$ and $Y$ be continuous random variables with probability density functions $P_X(x)$ and $P_Y(y)$, respectively. Further, let $Y = X^2$ and $P_X(x) = \begin{cases} 1, & x\in (0,1] \\ 0, & \text{otherwise} \end{cases}$
    Which one of the following options is correct?

  2. Two fair dice (with faces labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) are rolled. Let the random variable $X$ denote the sum of the outcomes obtained.
    The expectation of $X$ is __________ (rounded off to two decimal places).
  3. Let $X = aZ + b$, where $Z$ is a standard normal random variable, and $a, b$ are two unknown constants. It is given that
    $E[X] = 1$, $E[(X – E[X])Z] = –2$, $E[(X – E[X])^2] = 4$,
    where $E[X]$ denotes the expectation of random variable $X$. The values of $a, b$ are:
  4. Let $Y = Z^2$, $Z = \frac{X - \mu}{\sigma}$, where $X$ is a normal random variable with mean $\mu$ and variance $\sigma^2$. The variance of $Y$ is

  5. If $X$ is a continuous random variable with the probability density function
    $f(x) = \begin{cases} \frac{K}{4}, & 0 \le x \le 1 \\ 0, & \text{otherwise} \end{cases}$
    then the value of $K$ is __________. (Answer in integer)

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