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Re:Do not confuse a random variable with its distribution by kazinator on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @02:52AM (#40797098)
A random variable must assign a value to the different outcomes like heads, tails or colors. That value is the random variable value.

For a random variable we can calculate something called the expected value. We can't do that if the value of the variable is in the domain { red, green, blue }.

Re:Do not confuse a random variable with its distribution by eru on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @03:33AM (#40797308)
Expected values are a completely separate topic, and should not be confused with random variables.

Not all probability distributions over real numbers have expected values. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauchy_distribution

Many probability distributions over something other than the real numbers have expected values.