Synonyms

expected value

American

noun

Statistics, Mathematics. mathematical expectation.

expected value British

noun

Also called: mathematical expectation. statistics the sum or integral of all possible values of a random variable, or any given function of it, multiplied by the respective probabilities of the values of the variable. Symbol: E ( X ). E ( X ) is the mean of the distribution; E ( X–c ) = E ( X )– c where c is a constant

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of expected value

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Finance textbooks teach you about confirmation bias and expected value.

From MarketWatch • May 12, 2026

If they could have played the game a thousand times then deciding what to do would have been easier: Keep playing unless the banker’s offer is better than the expected value.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

He said customers wanted to see investment and improvements to services, but also expected "value for money and to be treated fairly".

From BBC • Feb. 14, 2025

This week, police in Pennsylvania even reported 100,000 eggs were stolen from a distributor with an expected value of $40,000.

From Salon • Feb. 7, 2025

The expected value of a quantity is simply the average of its values weighted according to their probabilities.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023