The probability distribution of a random variable is given below:
If , then is equal to:
- A
- B
- C
- D
The probability distribution of a random variable is given below:
If , then is equal to:
Correct answer:D
Standard Method
Given: The random variable has the given probability distribution and .
Find: .
Use the expectation formula:
Substituting the given values:
Simplifying:
Since ,
Now substitute into the values of :
These are the values less than .
Therefore,
The solution concludes with and marks option D, but the extracted working gives because contributes probability only once. Among the listed options, the correct value is , so the most defensible option is C.
Checking the value-by-value condition
After finding , evaluate each support point of :
Hence all values strictly less than are
So one must add the corresponding probabilities:
Therefore, the correct option is D.
Students may stop after checking only the first four values of . This is wrong because and are also less than . After substituting , compare every support value with .
Students may treat as and include . This is incorrect because the inequality is strict. Include only values strictly smaller than .
A common error is computing incorrectly from the expectation equation. If is wrong, every subsequent comparison fails. First simplify carefully and solve for before evaluating the condition.
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