In my probability class, I’ve been teaching my students about joint
probability mass functions with two random variables that are not independent. Since this is a new concept, I use a very simple example.
probability mass functions with two random variables that are not independent. Since this is a new concept, I use a very simple example.
Let X be random variable determined
by the roll of a single fair die, so X = 1, 2, …, 6, each with
probability 1/6. Let Y be a random integer in the range 1, …,
X, each value having equal probabilities 1/X. (In other words, we
have the marginal pmf f(x) = 1/6, and the conditional pmf f(y|X) =
1/X.) Find the marginal pmf f(y), for Y.
Until today, I was very confused about how to represent this
graphically; I drew an assortment of confusing pictures to show what
was going on. Then I read this
at J. D. Fisher’s thought-provoking MathandText blog.
Voila! The correct graphic practically drew itself (except for an
hour of Mathematica hacking).
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