Abstract
Often the results of an experiment are quantitative, rather than qualitative; in other words, the outcome of the experiment is a number or numbers. Assume for the moment that the result of the experiment is a single number, say the amount of money we shall be paid as the result of a bet. Then we may want to take into account that, if we receive $50, that is exactly half of $100. For some purposes, we regard a probability of one-fifth of getting $100 as equivalent to a probability of two-fifths of getting $50. We next introduce random variables into our study of probability to make it possible to take a quantitative point of view along those lines.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gordon, H. (1997). Random Variables. In: Discrete Probability. Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1966-8_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1966-8_4
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7359-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-1966-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive