Computing an Expectation in Matlab

I'm trying to compute the sum of x*binopdf(x,18,.96) for values of x from 0 to 16. How can I do that? It keeps giving me errors.

Answer 1

[Roger Stafford]

The code

x = 0:16;
E = sum(x.*binopdf(x,18,.96));

should give you the answer.

[Shane Kosir]

didn't work

[Roger Stafford]

Is there some reason why your x ranges only over 0:16 and yet your N value in binopdf is equal to 18? As it stands, it will not give you the true expected value.

Also please tell me in what respect it "didn't work".

[Walter Roberson]

When I use the above code, the value I get is _exactly the same as I get when I compute the precise value 36848322448959471846167088 / 14551915228366851806640625 through a different software package.