What is "probability mass function"

n. (context mathematics English) A function that gives the relative probability that a discrete random variable is exactly equal to some value

In probability theory and statistics, a probability mass function (pmf) is a function that gives the probability that a discrete random variable is exactly equal to some value. The probability mass function is often the primary means of defining a discrete probability distribution, and such functions exist for either scalar or multivariate random variables whose domain is discrete.

A probability mass function differs from a probability density function (pdf) in that the latter is associated with continuous rather than discrete random variables; the values of the latter are not probabilities as such: a pdf must be integrated over an interval to yield a probability.