Flip one or two coins and watch a rule, the random variable X, turn the result into a number: how many heads came up.
Mapping Outcomes to Numerical Values
Coins:
Sample Space (Outcomes)
H
Outcome: H
X
Random Variable
X = 1 if Heads, 0 if Tails
Value of X
1
Value: 1
A Random Variable is not a single variable, but a rule or function that assigns a number to every outcome of a random process. Here, the process is coin flipping, and our function X converts the outcome into a count of Heads.
