Noun
random variable (plural random variables)
- (statistics, broadly) A quantity whose value is random and to which a probability distribution is assigned, such as the possible outcome of a roll of a dice.
- (statistics, formally) A measurable function from a sample space to the measurable space of possible values of the variable.
1996, Ron C. Mittelhammer, Mathematical Statistics for Economics and Business, volume 78, Springer, page 45:Henceforth the symbol will be used for the random variable .
2009, Christian Perwass, Geometric Algebra with Applications in Engineering, Springer, page 351:The particular example considered here is the Hilbert space of random variables.
2012, Scott Miller, Donald Childers, Probability and Random Processes, 2nd edition, Elsevier (Academic Press), page 177:A two-dimensional random variable is a mapping of the points in the sample space to ordered pairs {x, y}. Usually, when dealing with a pair of random variables, the sample space naturally partitions itself so that it can be viewed as a combination of two simpler sample spaces.
Usage notes
Especially in discrete cases, a random variable is sometimes said to be indexed by the domain of its defining function, leading to notations such as and to represent particular values of the codomain.
Synonyms
- variate
- (broadly): random quantity
- (broadly, formally): aleatory variable, stochastic variable
Translations
measurable function from a sample space