Conditional Distributions

Recall: \(P(B | A)\) is the probability that event B occurs conditional on knowing that event A has occurred.

\[ P(B|A)={P(B\cap A)\over P(A)} \]

A & B are independent

if \(P(B\cap A)=P(B)\times P(A)\)

We can extend the concept of conditional probability to PMFs and PDFs.

Conditional PMFs

For jointly discrete random variables X and Y , the conditional PMF of Y given X = x (given a fixed value of X) is

\[ p_{Y|X=x}(Y)=P(Y=y|X=x)={p(x,y)\over p_X(x)} \]

The conditional PMF is a proper PMF:

  • \(pY|X=x(y)=1\)

  • \(\sum_y p_{Y|X=x}(y)=1\)

  • We can obtain conditional means and variances.

Example: CD example with joint PMF

x\ y 120 121 \(PX(x)\)
129 0.12 0.08 0.2
130 0.42 0.28 0.7
131 0.06 0.04 0.1
  • Find the conditional PMF of Y given X = 130.

Find the marginal distribution first

y 120 121
\(p_{Y|X=130}(y)\) 0.42/0.4 0.28/0.7
0.6 0.4

\[ P_{Y|X=130}(120)={P(X=130,Y=120)\over P(X=130)}=0.6 \]

  • Verify that the conditional PMF is valid.

They are valid because they add up to one and none of them are negative.

  • Find the conditional expected value of Y given X = 130.

\[ E(Y|X=130)=\sum y\times p_{Y|X=130}(y)=120\times 0.6+121\times 0.4=120.4 \]

  • Find the conditional variance of Y given X = 130.

\[ Var(Y|X=130)=E(Y^2|X=130)-[E(Y|X=130)]^2=0.24\\ E(Y^2|X=130)=\sum y^2\times p_{Y|X=130}(y)=120^2\times 0.6+121^2\times 0.4 \]

Note: We can compute the marginal PMF using the conditional PMF.

\[ p_Y (y) =\sum_x P_{Y|X=x}(y)P_X(x) \]

Conditional PDFs

For jointly continuous random variables X and Y , the conditional PDF of Y given X = x is

\[ f_{Y |X=x}(y) = {f(x, y)\over f_X(x)} \]

The conditional PDF is a proper PDF:

  • \(\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} f_{Y |X=x}(y) dy = 1\)

  • \(P(a < Y < b | X = x) = \int_{a}^{b} f_{Y |X=x}(y) dy\), which is the area under the conditional PDF curve, \(f_{Y|X=x}(y)\) from a to b.

  • We can obtain conditional means and variances.

Example: Let (X, Y ) be jointly continuous random variables with joint PDF

\[ f(x,y)=\begin{cases}{12\over 7}(x^2+xy),~~~0\leq x\leq1,0\leq y\leq1\\0,~~~~~~elsewhere\end{cases} \]

  • Find \(f_{Y|X=0.5}(y)\).

\[ P_X(x)={12\over 7}(x^2+{1\over 2}x) \]

\[ f_{Y|X=0.5}(y)={f(x,y)\over f_X(x)}={{12\over 7}(0.5^2+0.5y)\over {12\over 7}(0.5^2+{1\over 2}0.5)}={0.25+0.5y\over 0.25+0.25}={1\over 2}+y~~~~~ 0\leq y\leq1 \]

  • Find \(P(0<Y<0.5|X=0.5)\).

You can also write the equation in this way

\[ F_{Y|X=0.5}(0.5)-F_{Y|X=0.5}(0) \]

\[ \int_0^{0.5}f_{Y|X=0.5}(y)dy=\int_0^{0.5}{1\over 2}+y~dy=0.375 \]

  • Find \(E(Y|X=0.5)\).

\[ \int^{\infty}_{-\infty}y\times f_{Y|X=0.5}(y)dy=\int ^1_0y\times ({1\over 2}+y)~dy=0.583 \]

Note: We an computer the marginal PDF using the conditional PDF:

\[ f_Y(y)=\int^{\infty}_{-\infty}f_{Y|X=x}(y)f_X(x)~dx \]

weighted average of \(f_{Y|X=x}(y)\)

Independent Random variables

Recall:

Definition: Two random variables X and Y are independent if

\[ P(X\in A, Y\in B)=P(X\in A)P(Y\in B) \] For any set of A and B..

Result

\[ p(x, y) = p_X(x)p_Y (y) \]

\[ f(x, y) = f_X(x)f_Y (y) \]

Example: Let X and Y be discrete random variables with the joint PDF below. Are X and Y independent?

x 1 2 3
0 0.10 0.20 0.15
1 0.15 0.15 0.25