Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2009 / ia / Paper 2 / 9F / a

Use the usual assumption that the two die scores are independent random variables. A fair score has expected value $7/2$ and variance $35/12$. Linearity of expectation and the variance of a sum therefore giveCount the ordered pairs of scores to obtain the probability mass functionsOn these attainable probability supports, the maxima occur at $x=7$ and $y=0$, each with probability $1/6$; the minima occur at $x=2,12$ and $y=-5,5$, each with probability $1/36$. Outside the respective probability support, the mass is zero.

They are not independent: $Y=0$ implies equal die scores and hence $X$ is an even number, so $P(X=7,Y=0)=0$, whereas $P(X=7)P(Y=0)=1/36>0$. In fact $\mathrm{Cov}(X,Y)=\mathrm{Var}(S_1)-\mathrm{Var}(S_2)=0$: this is an example of uncorrelated random variables that are dependent.