# Discrete Random Variable and Discrete Convolution¶

(c) Tobias Hossfeld (Aug 2021)

This script and the figures are part of the following book. The book is to be cited whenever the script is used (copyright CC BY-SA 4.0):
Tran-Gia, P. & Hossfeld, T. (2021). Performance Modeling and Analysis of Communication Networks - A Lecture Note. Würzburg University Press. https://doi.org/10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-153-2

A random variable is a variable whose possible values are numerical outcomes of a random phenomenon. It maps events to real values. There are two types of random variables, discrete and continuous.

## Discrete Random Variable¶

A discrete random variable may take on only a countable number of distinct values and thus can be quantified. For example, you can define a random variable $X$ to be the number which comes up when you roll a fair dice. $X$ can take values : $[1,2,3,4,5,6]$ and therefore is a discrete random variable.

The probability distribution of a discrete random variable is a list of probabilities associated with each of its possible values. It is also sometimes called the probability function or the probability mass function. For the dice example, the probabilities are equal, i.e. $P(X=i)=p_i = 1/6$ for $i=1,\dots,6$. For $i>6$ or $i<1$, it is $p_i=0$.

The sum of all probabilities is $\sum_{i=-\infty}^\infty p_i = 1 \, .$

The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a discrete random variable is the probability that the random value $X$ takes a value less or equal to $i$, i.e. $P(X\leq i)$.

$P(X \leq i) = \sum_{k=1}^i P(X=i) = \sum_{k=1}^i p_i$

The expected value $E[X]$ of a random variable is the long-run average value of repetitions of the same experiment it represents, see wikipedia.

$E[X] = \sum_{i=-\infty}^\infty i\cdot P(X=i) = \sum_{i=-\infty}^\infty i\cdot p_i$

The second moment is derived as follows.

$E[X^2] = \sum_{i=-\infty}^\infty i^2\cdot P(X=i) = \sum_{i=-\infty}^\infty i^2\cdot p_i$

The variance can be derived by $Var[X] = E[X^2]-E[X]^2 \, .$

The standard deviation is $Std[X] = \sqrt{Var[X]}$ and the coefficient of variation is $c_X = \frac{Std[X]}{E[X]} \, .$

### Bernoulli Distribution¶

The most simple discrete distribution is the Bernoulli distribution. The random variable $X$ takes two values only, $X=1$ (success) with probability $p$ or $X=0$ (failure) with probability $1-p$. A single experiment is called a Bernoulli experiment.

$X \sim \mathrm{BER}(p), E[X] = p, Var[X] = p-p^2, c_X = \sqrt{\frac{1}{p}-1}$

### Binomial Distribution¶

The binomial distribution $Y$ counts the number of successes if a Bernoulli experiment $X$ with success probability $p$ is repeated $n$ times. Hence, the random variable $Y$ takes values in the range $0,1,\dots,n$. In other words, $Y$ is the sum of $n$ random variables $X_i$ following a Bernoulli distribution, $X_i \sim Ber(p)$.

$Y = \sum_{i=1}^n X_i \sim \mathrm{BINOM}(n,p) \text{ for } X_i \sim \mathrm{BER}(p)$

We are using now numerical convolution of the Bernoulli distribution to generate the Bernoulli distribution, see numpy.convolve.

## Discrete Convolution¶

Let us assume that the two positive discrete random variables $X_1$ and $X_2$ are statistically independent. Then the sum $X=X_1+X_2$ leads to a new random variable $X$. The expected value is $E[X]=E[X_1]+E[X_2]$. For the probability distribution $x(i)$ for $i=0,1,\dots$, the convolution of the two distributions is required.

$x(i) = P(X=i) = P(X_1+X_2)=i=\sum_{j=0}^i P(X_1=i-j|X_2=j)\cdot P(X_2=j) = \sum_{j=0}^i x_1(i-j)\cdot x_2(j)$

This is called discrete convolution and denoted by $x(i) = x_1(i) * x_2(i) \, .$

### Example: Sum of two dice¶

As an example, we consider the discrete random variables $X_1 = DU(1,6)$ and $X_2 = DU(1,6)$. In Python the discrete convolution is computed with numpy.convolve. Note the range of the sum $X=X_1+X_2$ is $\{2,3,\dots,11,12\}$.

### Example: Difference of two dice¶

The difference $X$ of two non-negative discrete random variables $X_1$ and $X_2$ with the respective distributions $x_1 (i)$ and $x_2 (i)$: $X = X_1 - X_2 \;.$

The r.v.s $X_1$ and $X_2$ are statistically independent. The distribution of the difference $X$ can be determined as follows:

$x(i) = P(X=i) = P(X_1 - X_2=i) = \sum_{j=0}^{+\infty} P(X_1 = i+j | X_2 = j ) \cdot P(X_2 = j) = \sum_{j=0}^{+\infty} x_1(i+j)x_2(j) = x_1(i) * x_2(-i) = (x_1 * -x_2)(i)\; ,$

where $x(i)$ can exist for negative values of $i$. The notation $x_1(i) * x_2(-i)$ is common in engineering.

As an example, we consider the discrete random variables $X_1 = DU(1,6)$ and $X_2 = DU(1,6)$.