Expectation value of operator derivation

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The expectation value of an observable is the average value of its outcome weighted according to the probability of each outcome.

\langle A\rangle\equiv \sum_{i}P(a_{i}) a_{i}

The observable A can be expressed in terms of its eigenvalues and eigenstates as:
\hat{A}=\sum_{i}a_{i}|a_{i}\rangle\langle a_{i}|, where \hat{A}|a_{i}\rangle=a_{i}|a_{i}\rangle

The probability of a given outcome is given by the state of the system |\psi\rangle and the Born rule:
P(a_{i})=|\langle a_{i}|\psi\rangle|^{2}=\langle \psi|a_{i}\rangle\langle a_{i}|\psi\rangle

Combining these together, we find the expectation value:
\langle A\rangle= \sum_{i}\langle \psi|a_{i}\rangle\langle a_{i}|\psi\rangle a_{i}

With a little algebra, this becomes:
\langle A\rangle=\langle \psi|\big(\sum_{i}a_{i}|a_{i}\rangle\langle a_{i}|\big)|\psi\rangle =\langle \psi|\hat{A}|\psi\rangle.
 
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