Solutions:

1. a. Head, Head (H,H)

Head, Tail (H,T)
Tail, Head (T,H)
Tail, Tail (T,T)
b. x = number of heads on two coin tosses
c.
Outcome Values of x

(H,H) 2

(H,T) 1

(T,H) 1

(T,T) 0

d. Discrete. It may assume 3 values: 0, 1, and 2.

2. a. Let x = time (in minutes) to assemble the product.
b. It may assume any positive value: x > 0.
c. Continuous
3. Let Y = position is offered
N = position is not offered
a. S = {(Y,Y,Y), (Y,Y,N), (Y,N,Y), (N,Y,Y), (Y,N,N), (N,Y,N), (N,N,Y), (N,N,N)}
b. Let N = number of offers made; N is a discrete random variable.
c.
Experimental Outcome (Y,Y,Y) (Y,Y,N) (Y,N,Y) (N,Y,Y) (Y,N,N) (N,Y,N) (N,N,Y) (N,N,N)

Value of N 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 0

4. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
5. a. S = {(1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (2,1), (2,2), (2,3)}
b.
Experimental Outcome (1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (2,1) (2,2) (2,3)

Number of Steps Required 2 3 4 3 4 5

6. a. values: 0,1,2,...,20 discrete
b. values: 0,1,2,... discrete
c. values: 0,1,2,...,50 discrete

d. values: 0  x  8 continuous
e. values: x > 0 continuous
7. a. f (x)  0 for all values of x.

 f (x) = 1 Therefore, it is a proper probability distribution.

b. Probability x = 30 is f (30) = .25

c. Probability x  25 is f (20) + f (25) = .20 + .15 = .35

d. Probability x > 30 is f (35) = .40
8. a.
x f (x)

1 3/20 = .15

2 5/20 = .25

3 8/20 = .40

4 4/20 = .20

Total 1.00
b.

c. f (x)  0 for x = 1,2,3,4.

 f (x) = 1
9. a.
Age Number of f(x)
Children

6 37,369 0.018
7 87,436 0.043 f(x)
8 160,840 0.080 .16
9 239,719 0.119 .14

10 286,719 0.142 .12

.10
11 306,533 0.152
.08
12 310,787 0.154
.06
13 302,604 0.150 .04
14 289,168 0.143 .02

2,021,175 1.000
x
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
 b.

c. f(x)  0 for every x

 f(x) = 1
10. a.

x f(x) x f(x)

1 0.05 1 0.04

2 0.09 2 0.10
3 0.03 3 0.12

4 0.42 4 0.46

5 0.41 5 0.28

1.00 1.00

b.
c. P(4 or 5) = f (4) + f (5) = 0.42 + 0.41 = 0.83
d. Probability of very satisfied: 0.28
e. Senior executives appear to be more satisfied than middle managers. 83% of senior executives have a
score of 4 or 5 with 41% reporting a 5. Only 28% of middle managers report being very satisfied.
11. a.
Duration of Call
x f(x)

1 0.25
2 0.25
3 0.25
4 0.25

1.00
b.
f (x)
0.30

0.20

0.10

x
0 1 2 3 4

c. f (x)  0 and f (1) + f (2) + f (3) + f (4) = 0.25 + 0.25 + 0.25 + 0.25 = 1.00
 d. f (3) = 0.25
e. P(overtime) = f (3) + f (4) = 0.25 + 0.25 = 0.50

12. a. Yes; f (x)  0.  f (x) = 1

b. f (500,000) + f (600,000) = .10 + .05 = .15
c. f (100,000) = .10

13. a. Yes, since f (x)  0 for x = 1,2,3 and  f (x) = f (1) + f (2) + f (3) = 1/6 + 2/6 + 3/6 = 1
b. f (2) = 2/6 = .333
c. f (2) + f (3) = 2/6 + 3/6 = .833
14. a. f (200)= 1 - f (-100) - f (0) - f (50) - f (100) - f (150)
= 1 - .95 = .05
This is the probability MRA will have a $200,000 profit.
b. P(Profit) = f (50) + f (100) + f (150) + f (200)
= .30 + .25 + .10 + .05 = .70
c. P(at least 100)= f (100) + f (150) + f (200)
= .25 + .10 +.05 = .40
15. a.

X f (x) x f (x)
x x- (x - )2 f (x) (x - )2 f (x)
3 .25 .75
3 -3 9 .25 2.25
6 .50 3.00
6 0 0 .50 0.00
9 .25 2.25
9 3 9 .25 2.25
1.00 6.00
4.50
E(x) =  = 6
b.

Var(x) = 2 = 4.5 c.  = 4.50 = 2.12

16. a.

y f (y) y f (y)

2 .2 .4

4 .3 1.2

7 .4 2.8

8 .1 .8

1.0 5.2

E(y) =  = 5.2
 b.
y y- (y - )2 f (y) (y - )2 f (y)

2 -3.20 10.24 .20 2.048

4 -1.20 1.44 .30 .432
7 1.80 3.24 .40 1.296
8 2.80 7.84 .10 .784
4.560

Var( y)  4.56   4.56  2.14

17. a. Total Student = 1,518,859

x=1 f(1) = 721,769/1,518,859 = .4752
x=2 f(2) = 601,325/1,518,859 = .3959
x=3 f(3) = 166,736/1,518,859 = .1098
x=4 f(4) = 22,299/1,518,859 = .0147
x=5 f(5) = 6730/1,518,859 = .0044
b. P(x > 1) = 1 – f(1) = 1 - .4752 = .5248
Over 50% of the students take the SAT more than 1 time.
c. P(x > 3) = f(3) + f(4) + f(5) = .1098 + .0147 + .0044 = .1289
d./e.

x f (x) x f (x) x- (x - )2 (x - )2 f (x)

1 .4752 .4752 -.6772 .4586 .2179

2 .3959 .7918 .3228 .1042 .0412

3 .1098 .3293 1.3228 1.7497 .1921

4 .0147 .0587 2.3228 5.3953 .0792

5 .0044 .0222 3.3228 11.0408 .0489

1.6772 .5794

E(x) = Σ x f(x) = 1.6772

The mean number of times a student takes the SAT is 1.6772, or approximately
1.7 times.

 2  ( x   ) 2 f ( x)  .5794

   2  .5794  .7612

18. a/b.
 x f (x) xf (x) x -  (x - )2 (x - )2 f (x)

0 0.04 0.00 -1.84 3.39 0.12

1 0.34 0.34 -0.84 0.71 0.24
2 0.41 0.82 0.16 0.02 0.01
3 0.18 0.53 1.16 1.34 0.24
4 0.04 0.15 2.16 4.66 0.17

Total 1.00 1.84 0.79

 

E(x) Var(x)
c/d.
y f (y) yf (y) y -  (y - )2 (y - )2 f (y)

0 0.00 0.00 -2.93 8.58 0.01

1 0.03 0.03 -1.93 3.72 0.12
2 0.23 0.45 -0.93 0.86 0.20
3 0.52 1.55 0.07 0.01 0.00
4 0.22 0.90 1.07 1.15 0.26

Total 1.00 2.93 0.59

 

E(y) Var(y)
e. The number of bedrooms in owner-occupied houses is greater than in renter-occupied houses. The
expected number of bedrooms is 2.93 - 1.84 = 1.09 greater. And, the variability in the number of
bedrooms is less for the owner-occupied houses.

19. a. E(x) =  x f (x) = 0 (.56) + 2 (.44) = .88

b. E(x) =  x f (x) = 0 (.66) + 3 (.34) = 1.02

c. The expected value of a 3 - point shot is higher. So, if these probabilities hold up, the team will make
more points in the long run with the 3 - point shot.