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Math 1313 Section 7.
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Section 7.2: Expected Value and Odds
The average (mean) of n numbers, x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ,…, x n is x .
x1 + x 2 + K + x n
Formula: x =
n
Expected Value of a Random Variable X
Let X denote a random variable that assumes the values x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ,…, x n with associated probabilities p 1
p 2 , …, p n , respectively. The expected value of X, E(X), is given by
= + +⋯+ =
Example 1: In this Finite Math class Test 1 is worth 8%, each of the 2- 4 tests are worth 14%, the quiz
average is worth 12%, the homework average is worth 10%, the popper average is worth 10%, and the
final exam is worth 18%. If your grades are as follows:
Test 1 – 82, Test 2 – 86, Test 3 – 68, Test 4 – 90, Quiz Average – 100, Homework Average – 91, Popper
Average – 100, and Final Exam – 95.
What is your class average (expected value)?
Example 2: A box contains 15 quarters, 7 dimes, 5 nickels, and 8 pennies. A coin is drawn at random
from the box. What is the mean of the value of the draw?
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Math 1313 Section 7.2
Example 3: An investor is interested in purchasing an apartment building containing six apartments.
The current owner provides the following probability distribution indicating the probability that the
given number of apartments will be rented during a given month.
Number of
Rented Apt 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Probability 0.02 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.15 0.25 0.28
a. Find the number of apartments the investor could expect to be rented during a given month?
b. If the monthly rent for each apartment is $799, how much could the investor expect to collect in rent
for the whole building during a given month?
Popper 3: A box contains 17 nickels, 11 dimes and 19 pennies. You pick a coin at random from
the box, what is the average value of the draw?
a. 0.0214
b. 0.0455
c. 0.1567
d. 0.7133
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Odds in Favor of and Odds Against
If P(E) is the probability of an even E occurring, then
1. The odds in favor of E occurring are
2. The odds against E occurring are
Note: Odds are expressed as ratios of whole numbers.
Probability of an Event (Given the Odds)
If the odds in favor of an event E occurring are a to b, then the probability of E occurring is
=
+
Example 4: The probability that the race horse Galloping George will win a race is 0.65.
a. What are the odds in favor of George winning?
b. What are the odds against George winning?
c. What is the probability that George will lose?
Example 5: The odds against Laura winning a certain raffle are 99:1. What is the probability that
Laura will not win the raffle?
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Example 6: The odds that it will rain on Thursday are 3 to 5. What is the probability that it will rain?
Example 7: The probability that I will not finish my paper this week is 85%. What are the odds I will
finish my paper?
Popper 4: The odds that a child entering a convenience store with her parents will not get a
package of cupcakes are 1 to 11. What is the probability she will get a package of cupcakes?
a. 0.0833
b. 0.0909
c. 0.1236
d. 0.9167
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Section 7.3: Variance and Standard Deviation
The Variance of a random variable X is the measure of degree of dispersion, or spread, of a probability
distribution about its mean (i.e. how much on average each of the values of X deviates from the mean).
Note: A probability distribution with a small (large) spread about its mean will have a small (large)
variance.
Variance of a Random Variable X

Suppose a random variable has the probability distribution
…
…
and expected value . Then the variance of the random variable X is
Note: We square each since some may be negative.
Standard Deviation measures the same thing as the variance. The standard deviation of a Random
Variable X is
Var ⋯
Example 1: Compute the mean, variance and standard deviation of the random variable X with
probability distribution as follows:
X P(X=x)
-3 0.4
2 0.3
5 0.3
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Example 2: An investor is considering two business ventures. The anticipated returns (in thousands of
dollars) of each venture are described by the following probability distributions:
Venture 1 Venture 2
Earnings Probability Earning Probability
-5 0.2 1.5 0.15
30 0.6 50 0.75
60 0.2 100 0.10
a. Compute the mean and variance for each venture.
b. Which investment would provide the investor with the higher expected return (the greater mean)?
c. Which investment would the element of risk be less (that is, which probability distribution has the
smaller variance)?
Popper 5: The probability distribution of a random variable X is given below. Given the mean
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X 1 3 5 7
( = ) 0.15 0.35 0.35 0.15
Find the standard deviation.
a. 3.400
b. 10.830
c. 1.844
d. 3.291
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Math 1313 Section 7.

The average (mean) of n numbers, x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ,…, x n is x .

Expected Value of a Random Variable X

What is your class average (expected value)?

Probability 0.02 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.15 0.25 0.28

If P(E) is the probability of an even E occurring, then

1. The odds in favor of E occurring are

2. The odds against E occurring are

Note: Odds are expressed as ratios of whole numbers.

Probability of an Event (Given the Odds)

a. What are the odds in favor of George winning?

b. What are the odds against George winning?

c. What is the probability that George will lose?

Variance of a Random Variable X

and expected value . Then the variance of the random variable X is

Note: We square each since some may be negative.

a. Compute the mean and variance for each venture.

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