Assignment I - Math 208 (CIVE/ ME-I)

By Kiran Shrestha
Final date of submission: _______________
Q.1 Find the mean, median, mode and standard deviation of these data: 5, 4, 8, 7, 2, 9
Q.2 Find the mean of the following data:
RBC Per Cell 0 1 2 3 4 5
No. of cells 142 156 69 27 5 1
(Ans. mean = 1)
Q.3 These data are a sample of the daily production rate of air-samplers from Air Tech. Ltd.
21 17 27 18 21 20 17 23 22 18
Sudip, the company production manager feels that a standard deviation of more than three samples a day indicates
unacceptable production-rate variations. Should he be concerned about plant-production rates?
[Hints: s.d.= 2.97, it is less than 3, so the production manager should not be concerned about plant- production
rates.]
Q.4 Find the mean, median and mode of the following sample. Comment
Value of stocks owned 100 1000 100000
Frequency 100 90 20
Q.5 The mean height of a group of men is 1780 mm with standard deviation of 22 mm, while mean weight is 76 kg
with standard deviation 3.3 kg. Which is more dispersed height or weight?
[Hints: CV(height) = 0.013, CV(Weight) = 0.043, Since CV(Weight) > CV (Height), so weight is more dispersed]
Q.6 Calculate coefficient of variation for following sets of data:
(a)
X 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124
F 4 6 9 13 15 19 20 18 15 10
[mean = 120.22, s.d. = 2.37, CV =50.73]
(b)
Class -10x0 0x10 10x20 20x30 30x40 40x50 50x60
Freq. 3 8 12 16 9 4 2
[mean = 22.41, s.d. = 14.3, CV =1.57]
Q.7 Construct more than cumulative frequency distribution and more than ogive:
Weekly wages less than (Rs.) 20 40 60 80 100
Number of workers 41 92 156 194 200
Q.8 The following data represent the length of life, in seconds, of 50 fruit flies subject to a new spray in a controlled
laboratory experiment:
17 20 10 9 23 13 12 19 18 24
12 14 6 9 13 6 7 10 13 7
16 18 8 13 3 32 9 7 10 11
13 7 18 7 10 4 27 19 16 8
7 10 5 14 15 10 9 6 7 15
a) Construct a double-stem-and-leaf plot for the life span of the fruit flies using the stems 0*, 0 - , 1 *, 1 - , 2
*, 2 – and 3 * such that stems coded by the symbol * and – are associated leaves 0 through 4 and 5 through
9 respectively.
b) Set up a relative frequency distribution.
c) Construct a relative frequency histogram.
Q.9 Construct less than cumulative frequency ogive:
Weekly wages more than (Rs.) 10 20 30 40 50
Number of workers 100 92 56 24 10
Q.10 The manager of a famous restaurants received complains that the customers have to wait too long in the lounge
after they arrive at the restaurant and before they are actually served dinner. The manger believes that on an average
the customers should not have wait for more than 30 minutes. He selected a random sample of 50 customers and
kept track of their waiting time. The following data were recorded. With the waiting time measured in minutes:
29 40 25 31 60 68 39 42 60 43
28 52 30 32 48 17 40 21 32 30
21 72 22 29 19 43 43 36 50 32
43 41 34 45 47 23 48 24 31 35
24 23 19 24 54 56 56 65 47 39
a) Construct a stem-and-leaf display for this data.
b) Construct a frequency distribution for these data with ten class interval, having classes 10-20, 20-30, and so
on.
c) Construct a histogram for this data.
d) Compute coefficient of quartile deviation.
(Ans. Q1=28.25, Q3=47, Coeff. Of Q.D. = 0.249169)
Q.11 The following is part of double-stem display with one digit leaves:
1f 2 3 2 1
1s 5 5 6 7 9
2f 0 1 1 2 1 1 4 3 4
2s 6 5 6 6 7 5 6 8
3f 0 0 0
3s 7 6
List the corresponding measurements.
Q.12 Which of the frequency polygons has a large positive skewness? Which has a large negative skewness?
Explain the positive and negative skew with the help of examples.
a.

b.

c.

Q. 13 The monthly income ( in thousands of rupees) of the heads of 20 sample households are as follows:
29 44 10 54 21 34 39 25 48 23
17 24 27 32 34 15 42 21 28 37
a) Prepare stem and leaf plot of data.
b) Classify the data into five classes of suitable length and construct frequency, relative frequency distribution
and cumulative frequency distribution table.
c) Prepare the box-whisker of this data set by using grouped frequency distribution obtained in (b) and
comment on the shape of the distribution.
d) By using grouped frequency distribution obtained in part (b), calculate the standard deviation of monthly
income of the heads of 20 sample households.
[Hints: Q1 = 22.5, Md = 28.5, Q3 = 37.5, s.d. = 11.44]
Q. 12 The following data represents the length of life in years, measured to the nearest tenths of 30 similar fuel
pumps:
2.0 3.0 0.3 3.3 1.3 0.4
0.2 6.0 5.5 6.5 0.2 2.3
1.5 4.0 5.9 1.8 4.7 0.7
4.5 0.3 1.5 0.5 2.5 5.0
1.0 6.0 5.6 6.0 1.2 0.2
a) Construct a stem and leaf plot for the life in years of the fuel pumps using the digit to the left of the decimal
point as the stem for each observation.
b) Set up a relative frequency distribution.
c) Compute the sample mean, sample range and sample standard deviation.
[Hints: Mean = 2.8, range = 6.3, s.d. = 2.19]
Q 13 The number of computer users in two villages in various age groups are given by the following distribution:
Age- group Number of Computer Users
Village A Village B
10-20 32 12
20-30 60 44
30-40 48 56
40-50 53 52
50-60 20 17
60-80 7 19
Prepare the percentage of less than cumulative frequency distribution.
[Hints: Village A 14.55%, 41.82%, 63.64%, 87.73%, 96.82%, 100.00%
Q. 14 An important quality characteristic of water is the concentration of suspended solid material. Following are 60
measurements on suspended solids from a certain lake:
Class -10 x0 0x10 10x20 20x30 30x40 40x50 50x60
Freq. 3 8 14 18 9 5 3
a) Compute the sample mean.
b) Prepare the cumulative frequency (both less than and more than type) distribution and represent them
graphically on the same graph paper.
 c) Find the mode.
[Hints: Mean = 23.17, Mode = 26.92]
Q.16 Following data gives motor fuel octane ratings of several blends of gasoline:
88.5 87.7 83.4 86.7 87.5 91.5 88.6
100.3
95.6 93.3 94.7 91.1 91.0 94.2 87.8
89.9
88.3 87.6 84.3 86.7 88.2 90.8 88.3
98.9
94.2 92.7 93.2 91.0 90.3 93.4 88.5
90.1
89.2 88.3 85.3 87.9 88.6 90.9 89.0
96.1
93.3 91.8 92.3 90.4 90.1 93.0 88.7
89.9
89.8 89.6 87.4 88.4 88.9 91.2 89.3
94.4
92.7 91.8 91.6 90.4 91.1 92.6 89.8
90.6
91.1 90.4 89.3 89.7 90.3 91.6 90.5
93.7
92.7 92.2 92.2 91.2 91.0 92.2 90.0
90.7
(a) Construct a stem-and-leaf plot
(b) Construct a frequency distribution and histogram.
(c) Calculate the sample mean, sample standard deviation and sample variance.
(d) Find the median and sample mode.
Q.17 The shelf life of a high-speed photographic files is being investigated by the manufacturer. the following data
are available:
126 129 134 141 131 132 136
145
116 128 130 162 125 126 ` 134
129
134 127 120 127 120 122 129
133
125 111 147 129 150 148 126
140
130 120 117 131 149 117 143
133
(a) Construct a dot plot for above data.
(b) Using the dot plot construct frequency distribution.
(c) Find mean, median, mode, quartiles.
(d) Draw a box plot and interpret the plot.
Assignment II - Math 208 (CIVE/ME)
By Kiran Shrestha
Final date of submission: ______________
Q.1 Calculate following probabilities:
a) in tossing of two dice probability of getting (i) sum of 7 (ii) same values on both dice (iii) value in first
die greater than that on second die.
b) In drawing a card from a deck of 52 cards probability of getting (i) a 7 (ii) a black card (iii) a king of ace
(iv) black queen (v) an ace or a king (vi) a red face card (king, queen or jack).
Q.2 In an office it was noticed that last year the photocopy machine in the office functioned for 209 days and was
out of service for 51 days. What is the probability of the copier being out of service on a day? [51/260]
Q.3 The probability that a boy will get scholarship is 0.75 and that girl will get it is 0.72. If the events of getting
scholarship by a boy and a girl are independent then find probability that (i) both will get scholarship (ii) at
least one of them get scholarship. [Hints: (i) 0.54 (ii) 0.93]
Q.4 4 persons are chosen at random from a group of 3 men, 2 women and 4 children. What is the probability that
exactly two of the children will be selected? [Hints: 10/21]
Q.5 An urn contains 75 marbles: 35 are blue and 25 of these blue marbles are swirled. The rest of them are red, and
30 of the red marbles are swirled. The marbles that are not swirled are clear. What is the probability of
drawing: (i) a blue marble from the urn? (ii) a clear marble from the urn (iii) a blue swirled marble (iv) a red
clear marble? [Hints: (i) 7/15 (ii) 4/15 (iii) 5/7 (iv) 3/4]
Q.6 A company producing nuclear fuel rods takes X-ray and inspect each rod before shipping. If an inspector at has
noted that for every 1000 fuel rods he inspects, 10 have interior flaws, 8 have casing flaws and 5 have both
flaws, what is the probability of finding a flaw in the rod? [Hints: 0.013]
Q.7 An inspector of oil pipeline has task of comparing the reliability of two pumping stations. Each station is
susceptible to two kinds of failure: pump failure and leakage. When either or both failure occurs, then the
stations must be shut down. The data at hand indicate that the following probabilities prevail:
Station Pump Failure Leakage Both
1 0.07 0.10 0
2 0.09 0.12 0.06
Which stations has the highest probability of being shut down?
[Hints: Station 1 with prob. 0.17]
Q.8 The health department routinely conducts two independent inspections of each restaurant, with the restaurant
passing only if both inspectors pass it. Inspector A is very experienced, and, hence passes only 2% of
restaurants that actually do have health code violations. Inspector B is less experienced and passes 7% of
restaurants with health code violations. Wheat is the probability that (a) Inspector A passes a restaurant, given
that inspector B has found a violation? (b) Inspector B passes a restaurant with a violation, given that inspector
A passes it? (c) A restaurant with a violation is passed by health department? [(a) 0.02 (b) 0.07 (c) 0.0014]
Q.9 The four floodgates of a small hydroelectric dam fail are repaired independently of each other. From
experience, it is known that each floodgate is out of order 4% of the time. (a) If the floodgate I is out of order,
what is the probability that floodgates 2 and 3 are out of order? (b) During a tour of the dam, you are told that
the chances of all four floodgates being out of order are less than 1 in 5,000,000. Is this statement true? [(a)
0.0016 (b) 0.00000256, not correct]
Q.10 At a soup kitchen, a social worker gathers the following data. Of those visiting the kitchen 59% are men, 32%
are alcoholics, and 21% are male alcoholics. What is the probability that a random male visitor to the kitchen is
a alcoholic? [0.36]
Q.11 According to survey, the probability that a random a family owns two cars if its annual income is over Rs.
35,00,000 is 0.75. Of the household surveyed, 60% had incomes over Rs. 35,00,000 and 52% had two cars.
What is the probability that a family has two card and an income over Rs. 35,00,000 a year? [0.45]
Q.12 Two events A and B are statistically dependent. If P(A) = 0.39, P(B) = 0.21 and P(A or B) = 0.47, find the
probability that (i) neither A nor B will occur (ii) Both A and B will occur. (iii) B will occur given that A has
occurred. (iv) A will occur given that B has occurred. [(i) 0.53 (ii) 0.13 (iii) 0.33 (iv) 0.62]
Q.13 During a study of auto accidents, the Traffic Police found that 60% of all accidents occur at night, 52% are
alcohol related and 37% occur at night and are alcohol related. (a) What is the probability that an accidents was
alcohol related, given that it occurred at night? (b) What is the probability that an accident occurred at night,
given that it was alcohol related? [(a) 0.71 (b) 0.62]
Q.14 At an electronics plant, it is known from past experience that the probability is 0.86 that a new worker who
attended the company’s training program will meet the production quota and that the corresponding probability
is 0.35 for a new worker who has not attended the company’s training program. If 80% of the all new workers
attended the training program, what is the probability that a new worker will meet the production quota? And
also find the probability that a new worker who meets the production quota will have attended the company’s
training program.
[Ans. P(Q) = 0.758, P(T/Q) = 0.9077]
Q.15 An experiment has four possible mutually exclusively outcomes A, B, C and D. Check whether the following
assignments of probability are permissible:

a) P ( A )=0.3 , P ( B )=0.4 , P ( C )=0.11 , P ( D )=0.02

b) P ( A )=0.32 , P ( B ) =0.27 , P ( C )=−0.06 , P ( D )=0.47
c) P ( A )=0.25 , P ( B )=0.5 , P ( C )=0.75 , P ( D )=−0.50
5 1 1 2
d) P ( A )= , P ( B )= , P (C )= , P ( D ) =
18 6 3 9
Q.16 An explosion in LPG storage tank in the process of being repaired could have occurred as the result of Static
Electricity (SE), Malfunctioning electrical Equipment (MEE), an Open Flame in Contact with the Liner
(OFCL), or Purposeful Action (PA) (industrial sabotage). Interviews with engineers who were analyzing the
risks involved led to estimates that such as explosion would occur with probability 0.25 as a result of SE, 0.20
as a result of MEE, 0.40 as a result of OFCL and 0.75 as a result of PA. These interviews alos yielded
subjective estimates of the prior probabilities of these four causes of 0.30, 0.40, 0.15 and 0.15 respectively.
a. What is the probability of explosion in an LPG storage tank?
b. What is the probability that an explosion occurred in an LPG storage tank caused by Purposeful Action
(PA)?
[Ans. (a) P(E)=0.3275 (b) P(PA/E) = 0.3435]
Q.17 In 15 experiments studying electrical behavior of single cells 11 use microelectrodes made of metal and the
other 4 use microelectrodes made from glass tubing. If 2 of the experiments are to be terminated for financial
reasons and they are selected at random. What are the probabilities that
i. Neither uses microelectrodes made from glass tubing?
ii. Only one use microelectrodes made from glass tubing?
[Ans. (a) 0.5238 (b) 0.419]
Q.18 Ram, Shyam and Hari fill orders in a fast food restaurant. Ram incorrectly fills 20% of the orders he takes.
Shyam incorrectly fills 12% of the orders he takes. Hari incorrectly fills 5% of the order he takes. Ram fills
30% of all orders. Shyam fills 45% of all orders and Hari fills 25% of all orders. An order has just been filled.
Who filled the order is unknown, but the order was filled incorrectly. What is the probability that Shyam filled
the order?
[Ans. 0.4269]
Q.19 The probability that a person has a certain disease is 0.03. Medical diagnostic tests are available to determine
whether the person actually has the disease. If the disease is actually present, the probability that the medical
diagnostic test will give a positive result (indicating that the disease is present) is 0.90. If the disease is not
actually present, the probability of a positive test result (indicating that the disease is present) is 0.02. What is
 the probability of a positive test result? Suppose that the medical diagnostic test has given a positive result
(indicating that the disease is present). What is the probability that the disease is actually present?
Ans. P(Positive)= 0.0464, P(Disease|Positive)= 0.58189
Q.19 What is the probability of obtaining the sum of 15 with 3 dice?
Ans. 10/216
Q.20 A factory has two machines A and B, which produce 70% and 30% of the total output, respectively. It has been
found that 20% and 10% respectively of the items produced by machine A and B are defective. An item from
the output is drawn at random and found to be defective. What is the probability that it was made by (i)
machine A (ii) machine B.
Ans. (i) 0.823529 (ii) 0.176471

Q.21 An electronic assembly consists of two subsystems, say A and B. From previous testing procedures, the
following probabilities are assumed to be known:
P ( A fails )=0.20 , P ( B failsalone ) =0.15 , P ( A∧B fail )=0.15
Evaluate the following probabilities
a ¿ P ( A fails|B has failed ¿ b ¿ P( A fails alone)
Ans. a) 0.5, b) 0.05
Q.22 What is the probability of obtaining the sum of 15 with 3 dice?

Q.23 A factory has two machines A and B, which produce 70% and 30% of the total output, respectively. It has been
found that 20% and 10% respectively of the items produced by machine A and B are defective. An item from
the output is drawn at random and found to be defective. What is the probability that it was made by (i)
machine A (ii) machine B.
Ans. (i) 0.823529 (ii) 0.17647
Q.24 Three facilities L&T, H&M and C&A supply microprocessors to a manufacturer of telemetry equipment. 15%
of time they receive microprocessors from L&T, 80% of time from H&M and 5% of time from C&A. All are
supposedly made to the same specifications. However, the manufacturer has for several years tested the
microprocessors, and observed that 2% of the items supplied by L&T, 1% of the items supplied by H&M and
3% of the items supplied by C&A were defective. The manufacturer has stopped the testing because of the
costs involved, and it may be reasonably assumed that the fractions that are defective and the inventory mix are
the same as during the period of record keeping. The director of manufacturing randomly selected a
microprocessor, take it to the test department, and finds that it is defective, what is the probability that it was
supplied by H&M? (Ans. 0.64)

Q.25 The coordinator of Bachelor in Statistics (B.Stat.) has two secretaries, Mary and Jane. The probability that
Mary will be absent on day is 0.08. the probability that Jane will be absent on any given day is 0.06. The
probability that both secretaries will be absent on any given day is 0.02. Find the probability that either one of
them will be absent on any given day.
Ans. 0.12)

Q.26 In a bolt factory, machine A, B and C manufacture 25, 35 and 40 percent of the total output respectively. Of
their outputs 5, 4 and 2 percent respectively are defective bolts. A bolt is chosen at random and found to be
defective. What is the probability that the bolts came from machine (i) A, (ii) B and (iii) C? (Ans. (i) 0.362319
(ii) 0.405797 (iii) 0.231884

Q.27 Three screws are drawn at random from a lot of 100 screws, 10 of which are defective. Find the probability of
the event that all 3 screws are non-defective, assuming that we draw, (a) with replacement (b) without
replacement.
(Ans. (a) 0.729 (b) 0.726531)
Q.28 The probability that a doctor will diagnose a disease X correctly is 70%. The probability that a patient will die
by his treatment after correct diagnosis is 30% and probability of death by faulty diagnosis is 80%. What is the
probability that a patient of this doctor, who has disease X, will die?
(Ans. 0.45)
Q.29 A company produces machine components which pass through an automatic testing machine. 5% of the
components entering the testing machine are defective. However, the machine is not entirely reliable. If a
component is defective there is 4% probability that it will not be rejected. If a component is not defective there
is 7% probability that it will be rejected.
a) What fraction of all the components are rejected?
b) What fraction of the components rejected are actually not defective?
(Ans. (a) 0.1145 (b) 0.5869)
Q.30 Of the three men, the chances that a politician, a businessman or an academic will be appointed as a Director of
School are 0.60, 0.25 and 0.15, respectively. Probability that research is promoted by these persons if they are
appointed as the Director are 0.28, 0.66 and 0.13, respectively.
a) Determine the probability that research is promoted.
b) If research is promoted, what is the probability that the director is an academic?
Ans. a) 0.3525 (b) 0.055319

Q.31 Engineers in charge of maintaining out nuclear fleet continually check for corrosion inside the pipes that are
part of cooling system. The inside condition of the popes cannot be observed directly but a non-destructive test
can give an indication of possible corrosion. The test is not infallible. The test has probability of 0.7 of
detecting corrosion when it is present but it also has probability of 0.2 of falsely indicating internal corrosion.
Suppose the probability that any section of pipe has internal corrosion is 0.1.

(a) Determine the probability that a section of pipe has internal corrosion, given that the test indicates its
presence.
(b) Determine the probability that a section of pipe has internal corrosion, given that the test is negative.
Assignment III – Math 208 (CIVE/ME)
By Kiran Shrestha
Final date of submission:

Problems on discrete rv and pmf

Q.1 In a process for manufacturing glassware, glass stems are sealed by heating them in a flame. The temperature of
the flame varies a bit. Here is the distribution of the temperature X measured in degree Celsius-
Temperatur 5400 5450 5500 5550 5600
e
Probability 0.1 0.25 0.3 0.25 0.1
a) Find the mean temperature X and standard deviation X.
b) The target temperature is 5500 C. what are the mean and standard deviation of the number of degrees off
target X – 550?
[Ans. (a) X =550, X= 5.7 (b) X-550 = 0, X-550= 5.7]
Q.2 In an experiment on the behavior of young children, each subject is placed in an area with five toys. The
response of interest is the number of toys that child plays with, past experiment with many subjects have shown that
the probability distribution of the number X of toys played with is as follows:
Number of toys, xi 0 1 2 3 4 5
Probability f(xi) 0.03 0.16 0.30 0.23 0.17 0.11
a) Find the mean X.
b) Find the standard deviation X.
Ans. (a) 2.68 (b) 1.31
Q.3 A part of quality-improvement project focused on the delivery of mail at a department office within a large
company, data were gathered on the number of different address that had to be changed so the mail could be
redirected to the correct mail stop. The distribution is given below, describe the number of redirects per delivery
xi 0 1 2 3 4 5
(xi) 0.03 0.16 0.30 0.23 0.17 0.11
a) find the mean X.
b) find the standard deviation X.
Ans. (a) 2.68 (b) 1.31
Q.4 As part of quality-improvement project focused on the delivery of mail at a department office within a large
company, data were gathered on the number of different address that had to be changed so the mail could be
redirected to the correct mail stop. The distribution given below describes the number of redirects per delivery
xi 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
f(xi) 0.17 0.29 0.27 0.16 0.07 0.03 0.01
a) find the mean X.
b) find the standard deviation X.
Ans. (a) 1.8 (b) 1.341641
Q.5 If two dice are thrown together find the probability distribution of number of sixes. Throwing a six is considered
as a success. Ans. -
x 0 1 1
P(X=x) 25/36 10/36 1/36
Q.6 X is a discrete random variable with the probability mass function
x
f ( x )= , for x=1 , 2, 3 , 4
10
1 5
Find a) P ( X=1∨2 ) b ¿ P ( 2 |
< X < X >1 ¿
2
Ans. a) 3/10 b) 2/9
Q.7 A random variable X has the following probability distribution:
x: -2 -1 0 1 2 3
f(x): 0.1 k 0.2 2k 0.3 3k
Calculate P(X < 2).
Ans.k=1/15, so prob.= ½.
Q.8 A random variable X has the following probability distribution
x: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
p(x): 0 k 2k 2k 3k k2 2k2 7k2+k
Find
i) The value of k.
ii) P(1.5 < X < 4.5 | X > 2)
iii) The smallest value of  for which
1
P ( X ≤ )>
2
Ans. (i) k = 1/10 (ii) 5/7 (iii) min.  = 4
Q.9 Let X denote the number of patients who suffer an infection within a floor of a hospital per month with the
following probabilities:
Number of patients (xi) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Probability P(X = x) 0.04 0.12 0.30 0.24 0.22 0.08
Determine the following probabilities:
a) less than one infection
b) more than three infections
c) at least one infection
d) no infection
a) 0.04 b) 0.30 c) 0.96 d) 0.04
Q. 10 (a) Show that the probability function of sum of the values obtained in tossing two dice may be written as
x−1
P ( x) = , x =2 ,3 , … … … , 6
36
13−x
, x=7 , 8 , … … … , 12(b) Find the mean and variance of the random variable whose probability function is
36
defined in previous problem (a).
Ans. b) mean 7 variance 5.83
Q.11 Three batteries are chosen at random from a lot containing 12 batteries, 2 of which are defective. Let X be
defined as the number of defective batteries selected. Set up the probability distribution of X. Determine the
expected value and variance of X.
Ans. Prob. Distr.
X 0 1 2
P(X=x) 0.55 0.40 0.05
Mean 0.5, Variance 0.35
Q.12 A sample of four electronic components is taken from the output of a production line. The probabilities of the
various outcomes are calculated to be P(0 defective) = 0.6561, P(1 defective) = 0.2916, P(2 defectives) = 0.0486,
P(3 defectives) = 0.0036, P(4 defectives) = 0.0001. What is the probability of at least one defective?
Ans. 0.3439
Q.13 The probability distribution of X, the number of imperfections per 10 metres of synthetic fabric in a continuous
roll of uniform width, is given by
X 0 1 2 3 4
f(x) 0.41 0.37 0.16 0.05 0.01
Construct the CDF of X.
Ans.
 F(x) = 0 , x<0
0.41, 0x<1
0.78, 1x<2
0.94, 2x<3
0.99, 3x<4
1, x4.
Problems on continuous rv and pdf
Q.14 If the probability density of a random variable is given by
f ( x )=k ( 1−x 2 ) for 0< x <1
0 elsew h ere
Find the value of k and the probabilities that a random variable having this probability density will take on a value
a) Between 0.1 and 0.2.
b) Greater than 0.5.
[Ans. k=3/2, (a) 0.1465 (b) 0.3125]
Q.15 In certain experiments, the error made in determining the density of a silicon compound is a random variable
having the probability density
f ( x )=25 for−0.02< x< 0.02
0 elsew h ere
Find the probabilities that such an error will be
a) Between -0.03 and 0.04
b) Between -0.005 and 0.005
[Ans. (a) 1 (b) 0.25]
2
Q.16 A continuous random variable X has a probability density function f ( x )=3 x ,0 ≤ x ≤ 1. Find a and b such
that
i) P ( X ≤ a )=0.5
ii) P ( X ≥b )=0.05
[Ans. (a) a = 0.7937 (b) 0.983]
Q.17 If the distribution function of a random variable is given by
4
f ( x )=1− for x> 2
x2
0, x≤2
Find the probabilities that this random variable will take on a value
a) less than 3
b) between 4 and 5.
Ans. (a) 0.33 (b) 0.8)
Q.18 Let X be a continuous random variable with p.d.f. is given by
f ( x )=ax , 0 ≤ x <1
¿ a , 1≤ x <2
¿−ax +3 a , 2≤ x< 3
¿ 0 , elsew h ere
Find (i) the constant ‘a’ (ii) P(X  1.5) (iii) the cdf of X.
Ans. (i) ½ (ii) ½ (iii)
F(x) = x2/4, 0 ≤ x<1
= ½ x – ¼ , 1≤ x<2
= - x2/4 + 3x/2 – 5/4, 2
Q.19 The continuous random variable X has p.d.f. f(x) = 3x2, -1  x  0. If b is a number satisfying -1 < b < 0,
compute P(X > b | X < b/2).
Ans. 7b3/ (8 + b3)
Hints: P(X > b | X < b/2) =
P ( X > b∨ X <b /2 ) P ( b/ 2< X <b )
¿ = =… …
P ( X <b /2 ) P ( X < b/2 )
Q.20 An investment firm offers its customers, municipal bonds that mature after varying numbers of years. Given
that the cumulative distribution function of T, the number of years to maturity for a randomly selected bond, is
F ( t )=0 , t< 1
1
¿ , 1≤ t<3
4
1
¿ , 3≤ t <5
2
3
¿ , 5≤ t <7
4
¿ 1 ,t ≥7
Calculate:
a) P(T = 5)
b) P(T > 3)
c) P(1.4 < T < 6)
Ans. a) ¼, b) ½ c) ¼
Q.21 A continuous random variable X has the pdf
f ( x )=kx ( 1+ x ) , for 0< x <1
Find a) the value of k b) the cumulative distribution function of X.
Ans. a) 6/5 b) (3+2x) x2/5
Q.22 On a laboratory assignment, if the equipment is working, the density function of the observed outcome, X is
f ( x )=2 ( 1−x ) , 0< x <1 ,
¿ 0 , ot h erwise
a) Calculate P(X  1/3)
b) What is the probability the X will exceed 0.5?
c) Given that X  0.5, what is the probability that X will be less than 0.75?
Ans. a) 5/9 b) 0.25 c) 0.1875
Q.23 Consider the density function
f ( x )=k √ x , 0< x< 1,
¿ 0 , ot h erwise
a) Evaluate k.
b) Find F(x) and use it to evaluate P(0.3 < X < 0.6)
Ans. a)3/2 b) F(x) = x3/2 , so prob. = 0.3
Q.24 If a random variable has the probability density
f ( x )=3 e−3 x , for x> 0
¿ 0 , for x ≤ 0
find the probabilities that it will take a value
i) Between 1 and 4.
ii) Greater than 0.4.
(i) 0.04978 (ii) 0.301194212
Q.25 Consider the following probability density function of random variable X-
f ( x )=kx , 0 ≤ x<2
¿ k ( 4−x ) , 2≤ x ≤ 4
¿ 0 , ot h erwise
 (a) Find the value of k for which f is a probability density function.
(b) Find the mean and variance of X.
(c) Find the cumulative distribution function.
Ans. a) ¼ b) mean 2 variance 38/3 c)
F(x) = x2/8, 0x<2
2
=x – x /8 -1, 2x<4
Q.26 A continuous random variable X has a density function
2x
f ( x )= , 0< x< 3
9
Develop the CDF for X.
Q.27 Let the continuous random variable X denote the diameter of a hole drilled in a sheet metal component. The
target diameter is 12.5 millimeters. Most random disturbances to the process result in larger diameters. Historical
data show that the distribution of X can be modeled by a probability density function
f ( x )=20 e−20 (x−12.5) , x ≥12.5
a) If a part with a diameter 12.60 millimeters is scrapped, what proportion of parts is scrapped?
b) What proportion of parts is between 12.5 and 12.6 millimeters?
Ans. a) e-2.
Q.28 The temperature readings from a thermocouple in a furnace fluctuate according to a cumulative distribution
function
F ( x )=0 , x <8000 C0.1 x−80 , 8000 C ≤ x <810 0 C1 , x >810 0 C
Determine the following:
a) P(X < 805)
b) P(800 < X  805)
c) P(X > 808)
d) If the specifications for the process require that the furnace temperature be between 802 and 808 0C, what is
the probability that the furnace will operate outside of the specifications?
Ans. i) 0.5 b) 0.5 c) 0.02 d) 0.4
Q.29 Let X be a continuous random variable with the uniform density
1
f ( x )= ,0< x<2 a
2a
Find a) the median of X b) mean of X.
Ans. a) a b) a.
Problems on Function of rv
Q.30 A contractor is going to bid a project, and the number of days, X, required for completion follows the
probability distribution given as:
p ( x ) =0.1 , x=100.3 , x=110.4 , x=120.1 , x=130.1 , x=140.0 , ot h erwise
The contractor’s profit is given by Y = 2000(12 – X).
a) Find the probability distribution of Y.
b) Sketch the distribution function of Y.
c) Determine the mean of Y.
d) Determine the variance of Y.
Ans. i)
y -4000 -2000 0 2000 4000
p(y) 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.1
ii)
F(y) = 0, y < -4000
 0.1, -4000  y < -2000
0.2, -2000  y < 0
0.6, 0  y < 2000
0.9, 2000  y < 4000
1, y  4000
iii) 400 iv) 4640000
Problems on Expectation and Variance of rv
Q.31 A public bus driver has to go through five major intersections enroute to Ratnapark from Tribhuvan
Internatioanl Airport (TIA). From the past experience the driver has a rough idea about the percentage of time that
he has to stop at the intersection during red traffic lights as given below:
Number of stoppage at red traffic lights 0 1 2 3 4 5
Approx. chance of stopping 0.05 0.25 0.35 0.15 0.15 0.05
How many red lights do the driver expect during each run? What is the variance?
[Ans. Exp. 2.25, Var. 1.5875]
Q.32 If the probability density of X is given by
f ( x )=2 ( 1−x ) for 0< x< 1
0 elsew h ere
Find E[(2X + 1)2].
[Ans. 3] Hints: E(X) = 1/3, E(X2)=1/6
Q.33 Let X1, X2, ……………., X20 be independent and let each have the same marginal distribution with mean 10
and variance 3. Find
i) E ( X 1 + X 2+ … … … … … .+ X 20 )
ii) V ( X 1 + X 2+ … … … … … .+ X 20 )
[Ans. (i) 200 (ii) 30]
Q.34 If X1 has mean 7 and variance 5, while X2 has mean 8 and variance 2 and the two are independent, find
V (2 X 1 + X 2+ 41)
Ans. 22
 Assignment IV – Math 208
Final date of submission:
Problems on Binomial Distribution
#.1 Among the 300 employees of a company, 240 are union members, while the others are not. If 8 of the employees are
chosen by lot to serve on the committee which administers the pension fund, find the probability that 5 of them will be union
members while the others are not, wither by using the formula for binomial distribution. Ans. 0.1468
#.2 A shipment of 120 burglar alarms contains 5 that are defective. If three of these alarms are randomly selected and
shipped to a customer, find the probability that the customer will get the one bad unit by using the formula for binomial
distribution. Ans. 0.1148
#.3 (a) “The mean of a binomial distribution is 4 and the standard deviation is 3”. Is statement consistent? If not, why? (b)
The mean of a binomial distribution is 3 and variance is 3/2. Find the probability of (i) 0 success (ii) 2 successes (iii) at least 4
successes.
Ans. a) No b) (i) 0.015625 (ii) 0.234375 (iii) 0.34375
#.4 Lots of 40 components each are called unacceptable if they contain as many as 3 defectives or more. The procedure for
sampling the lot is to select 5 components at random and to reject the lot if a defective is found. What is the probability that
exactly, 1 defective is found in the sample if there are 3 defectives in the entire lot by using the formula for binomial distribution
as an approximation.
Ans. i) 0.301113 ii) 0.274535303

Problems on Poisson Distribution

#. If a random variable X follows a Poisson distribution such that
P(X = 2) = 9 P(X = 4) + 90 P(X = 6),
find the mean and variance of X. [Ans. mean = 1, variance = 1]
#. In the morning, the arrival of buses at KU Bus Park is a Poisson process with a mean arrival rate of 2 per minute. Find
the probability that
i. Exactly 5 buses arrive in a 5-minute period.
ii. At least 2 buses arrive in a 3-minute period.
Ans. i) 0.037833275 ii) 0.982648735
#.10 In the inspection of a fabric produced in continuous rills, the number of imperfections per yard is a random variable having
Poisson distribution with  = 0.25. What is the probability that 2 yards of the fabric will have not any imperfections? Ans.
0.60653066

Problems on Normal Distribution

#. In a sample of 1,000 items, the mean weight and standard deviation are 45 kgs and 15 kgs respectively. Assuming the
distribution to be normal, find the number of items weighing between 40 kgs and 60 kgs.
[Ans. P(40<X<60)=0.47064, So Number = 470.64=471]

#.3 Plastic rods are automatically cut into lengths of 6 inches. Actual lengths are normally distributed about a mean of 6 inches
and their standard deviation is 0.06 inch.
a) What proportion of the rods exceeds tolerance limits of 5.9 inches to 6.1 inches?
b) To what value does the standard deviation need to be reduced if 99% of the rods must be within tolerance? [Ans. (a)
P(Within tolerance) = P(5.9<X<6.1)=0.905081,
So P(exceeding tolerance) = 0.094919]
#.4 The mean of the inner diameters of a sample of 200 tubes produced by a machine is 0.502 and the standard deviation is 0.005.
The purpose for which these tubes are intended allows a maximum tolerance in the diameter of 0.496 to 0.508 (I.e., otherwise
tubes are considered defective). What percentage of the tubes produced by the machine is defective if the diameters are found to
be normally distributed? Ans. 0.7699
#.5 Chief of Army assumes that height of soldiers is normally distributed with mean 68.22 inches with a variance 10.8 inches. If a
regiment is to form with 1000 soldiers, how many soldiers in a regiment would he expect to be over six feet tall?
Ans. 1000 x 0.874973 = 875 (approx.)
#.8 Given a random variable having the normal distribution with  = 16.2 and 2 = 1.5265, find the probabilities that it will take
on a value
a) greater than 16.8
b) less than 14.9
c) between 13.6 and 18.8 Ans. a) 0.315614 b) 0.14917 c) 0.962474
#.9 During periods of transcendental meditation the reduction of a person’s oxygen consumption is a random variable having a
normal distribution with mean 37.6 cc per minute and standard deviation 4.6 cc per minute. Find the probabilities that during a
period of transcendental meditation a person’s oxygen consumption will be reduced by
a) at least 44.5 per minutes
b) anywhere from 30.0 to 40.0 cc per minute. Ans. a) 0.066807 b) 0.649824

#.11 The time to microwave a bag of popcorn using the automatic setting can be treated as a random variable having a normal
distribution with standard deviation 10 seconds. If the probability is 0.8212 that the bag will take less than 282.5 seconds to pop,
find the probability that
a) it will take longer than 258.3 seconds to pop, and
b) it will take a value greater than 39.2 seconds. Ans. a) 0.9332 b)
#.12 What do you mean by a normally distributed data set? What are the advantages of normal distribution over other
distributions?
(i) Suppose that X has distribution N(,2). Determine C (as a function of  and ) such that P(X <= C) = P(X > C).
(ii) The annual rainfall at a certain locality is known to be normally distributed random variable with mean value equal to
29.5 inches and standard deviation of 2.5 inches. How many inches of rain (annually) exceeded about 5% of time.

#.14 In a photographic process, the developing time of prints may be looked upon as a random variable having a normal
distribution with a mean of 16.28 and a standard deviation of 0.12 second. Find the probability that
a) It will take anywhere from 16.00 to 16.50 seconds to develop one of the prints,
b) It will take anywhere at least 16.20 seconds to develop one of the prints.
a) 0.956808 b) 0.747507
#.16 In a certain country 30% children are undernourished. From a random sample of 6 children in this area, find the probability
that number of undernourished are i) exactly 2 (ii) more than 2 iii) at most 2. Also find the mean and standard deviation of
binomial distribution. if there are 50 such families, in how many families more than two children are undernourished?
Ans. i) 0.324135 ii) 0.25569 iii) 0.74431 Mean = 1.8, s.d.= 1.122497, Families no. more than 2 undernourished
children = 12.7845 (~ 13)
#.17 What is Poisson distribution? How can Poisson distribution be obtained from a binomial distribution?
It is known from the past experience that in a certain plant there are on average 4 industrial accidents per year. Find the
probability that in a given year, there will be i) less than 4 accidents ii) at least 4 accidents iii) exactly two accidents iv) no
accidents.
Ans. i) 0.43347 ii) 0.56653 iii) 0.146525 iv) 0.018316
#.18 If scores are normally distributed with a mean of 30 and a standard deviation of 5, what percent of the scores is a) greater
than 30, b) greater than 37 c) between 28 and 34?
Ans. i) 0.5 ii) 0.080757 iii) 0.443566
#.19 At a busy traffic intersection the probability ‘p’ of an individual car having an accident is very small, say, 0.0001. However,
during a certain part of the day, say, between 4 pm and 6 pm, a large number of cars pass through the intersection say, 1000.
Under these conditions, what is the probability of two or more accident occurring during that period a) using binomial
distribution b) using Poisson approximation to Binomial distribution.
Ans. a) 0.0046748 b) 0.0046788
#.20 Suppose that X has a normal distribution. What must be the standard deviation of this distribution be if the probability of the
random variable being more than two units away from mean (on either side) is 0.40. Hints: Given P(|X - |  2) = 0.40
Ans. 2.3763659
#.21 Differentiate between Binomial distribution and Poisson distribution with examples. The probability of an item produced by
a certain machine will be defective is 0.05. If the produced items are sent to the market in packets of 20, find the number of
packets containing i) exactly 2 ii) at least 2 defective items in a consignment of 1000 packets using a) Binomial distribution b)
Poisson approximation to a binomial distribution.
 Ans. (a) i) 0.188677 ii) 0.26416 (b) i) 0.18394 ii) 0.264241
#.22 What are the properties of a normal distribution? if X is normally distributed with mean 25 and variance 36, find
a) P(13 < X < 43)
b) P(X < 43 | X > 13) Ans. i) 0.9759 ii) 0.998619
#.23 The annual rainfall at a certain locality is known to be normally distributed random variable with mean value equal to 29.5
inch and standard deviation of 2.5 inch. How many rain (annually) exceeded about 5% of time. Ans. 33.61213 (~
34)
#.24 a) Determine the following probabilities for the standard normal variable Z:
i) P(-1 < Z < 1) ii) P(0 < Z  3)
b) Determine the value for z that solves each of the following
i) P(Z > z) = 0.881 ii) P(-z < Z < z) = 0.95
#.25 It has been claimed that in 72% of all solar-heat installations, the utility bill is reduced by at least one third. Accordingly,
what are the probabilities that the utility bill will be reduced by at least one-third in
i) four of five installations
ii) at least four of five installations. Ans. i) 0.376234 ii) 0.569726
#.26 An automatic machine produces 100 spools of brass wire per hour. Studies have shown that on an average, three spools of
wire turn out to be defective among these 100 spools. Assuming a Poisson distribution, find the probability of the machine
producing at least two defective spools per hour. Ans. 0.800852
#.27 A manufacturer of laptop computer monitors has determined that 3% of screen produced are defective. A sample of one
dozen monitors from a production lot was taken at random. What is the probability that in this sample at most 2 defectives will
be found?
Ans. 0.995154
#.28 The diameters of ball bearings are normally distributed with a mean of 2.42 inches and a standard deviation of 0.10 inches.
Determine the percentage of ball bearings with diameter between 2.40 and 2.43. Ans. 0.119088

#.29 Suppose that X, the breaking strength of rope (in pounds) has distribution N(100, 16). Each 100 foot coil of rope brings a
profit of Rs. 25, provided X > 95. If X  95, the rope may be used for a different purpose and a profit of Rs. 10 per coil is
realized. Find the expected profit per unit.
#.30 For a binomial distribution, the mean is 6 and the variance is 4. Find P(X = 4).
#.31 If X is Poisson random variable such that P(X = 1) = 0.4 and P(X = 2) = 0.2. Calculate P(X = 0).
#.32 The life of a particular type of dry cell is normally distributed with mean of 600 days and standard deviation of 60 days.
What fraction of these batteries would be expected to survive beyond 680 days? What fraction would be expected to fail before
560 days?
#.33 A cereal manufacturer claims that boxes of its cereals weigh 20 oz. on average with a population standard deviation of 0.5
oz. A random sample of 100 boxes is selected. What is the probability that sample mean is between 19.9 and 20.1 oz. Assume
that it follows normal distribution.