random variable

American  

noun

Statistics.

1. a quantity that takes any of a set of values with specified probabilities.

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random variable British  

noun

1.  rv.  statistics a quantity that may take any of a range of values, either continuous or discrete, which cannot be predicted with certainty but only described probabilistically

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Etymology

Origin of random variable

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

The number of events, four in the graph, is measured in counting numbers; therefore, the random variable of the Poisson is a discrete random variable.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

The decay factor simply measures how rapidly the probability of an event declines as the random variable X increases.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

We are measuring length of time of the interval, a continuous random variable, exponential, not events during an interval, Poisson.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

To solve the problem we create a new random variable, the difference between the sample means.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

The myriad factors affecting innovativeness make the historian’s task paradoxically easier, by converting societal variation in innovativeness into essentially a random variable.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond