Functions of random variables¶

If \(X\) is a random variable than \(f(X)\) is also a random variable.

Since random variables are just mapings to the real line, than functions of random variables are just function \(f: R \rightarrow R\).

functions of random variable

Linear functions¶

\[y = f(x) = Ax + b\]

We can derive the expectaion of \(y\):

Mean¶

\[ E[Y] = E[Ax + b] = A\mu + b \]

where:

  • \(\mu = E[X]\)

This is called the linearity of expectations

Variance¶

\[ var(Y) = var(Ax + b) = A \Sigma A^T \]

or in 1 dimension it is simply:

\[ var(y) = var(ax + b) = a^2 \sigma^2 \]