Expectation, Variance, and Standard Deviation of Bernoulli Random Variables
Problem 747
A random variable $X$ is said to be a Bernoulli random variable if its probability mass function is given by
\begin{align*}
P(X=0) &= 1-p\\
P(X=1) & = p
\end{align*}
for some real number $0 \leq p \leq 1$.
(1) Find the expectation of the Bernoulli random variable $X$ with probability $p$.
As $X$ is a Bernoulli random variable, it takes only two values $0$ or $1$.
Thus, by definition of expectation, we obtain
\begin{align*}
E[X] &= \sum_{i=0}^1 P(X=i)x\\
&= P(X=0) \cdot 0 + P(X=1) \cdot 1\\
&= (1-p) \cdot 0 + p \cdot 1\\
&= p.
\end{align*}
Hence, the expectation of the Bernoulli random variable $X$ with parameter $p$ is $E[X] = p$.
Solution of (2)
We calculate the variance of the Bernoulli random variable $X$ using the definition of a variance. Namely, the variance of $X$ is defined as
\[V(X) = E[X^2] – \left(E[X]\right)^2.\]
Here is an observation that makes the computation simpler: As the Bernoulli random variable takes only the values $0$ or $1$, it follows that $X^2 = X$. Thus, the variance can be computed as follows.
\begin{align*}
V(X) &= E[X^2] – \left(E[X]\right)^2 && \text{by definition of variance}\\
&= E[X] – \left(E[X]\right)^2 && \text{by observation $X^2=X$}\\
&= p – p^2 && \text{by result of (1)}\\
&= p(1-p)
\end{align*}
Thus, the variance of the Bernoulli random variable $X$ with parameter $p$ is given by
\[V(X) = p(1-p).\]
Solution of (3)
The standard deviation is obtained by taking the square root of the variance. Hence, using the result of (2), the standard deviation of the Bernoulli random variable $X$ with parameter $p$ is
\[\sigma(X) = \sqrt{p(1-p)}.\]
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Problem.
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