Progress Check Week 3

1. State which events are independent and which are dependent.

a. Tossing a coin and drawing a card from a deck Independent
b. Drawing a ball from an urn, not replacing it, and then drawing a second ball
Dependent
c. Getting a raise in salary and purchasing a new car Dependent
d. Driving on ice and having an accident Dependent
e. Having a large shoe size and having a high IQ Independent
f. A father being left-handed and a daughter being left-handed Dependent
g. Smoking excessively and having lung cancer Dependent
h. Eating an excessive amount of ice cream and smoking an excessive number of
cigarettes Independent
2. Exercise If 37% of high school students said that they exercise regularly, find the probability
that 5 randomly selected high school students will say that they exercise regularly. Would you
consider this event likely or unlikely to occur? Explain your answer.
0.69% This event is unlikely to occur given the fact that the probability of it occurring is close to
0 (0.69%).

3. Video and Computer Games Sixty-nine percent of U.S. heads of households play video or
computer games. Choose 4 heads of households at random. Find the probability that
a. None play video or computer games 0.92%
b. All four do 22.67%

4. Seat Belt Use The Gallup Poll reported that 52% of Americans used a seat belt the last time
they got into a car. If 4 people are selected at random, find the probability that they all used a
seat belt the last time they got into a car. Source: 100% American.
7.31%

5. Medical Degrees If 28% of U.S. medical degrees are conferred to women, find the
probability that 3 randomly selected medical school graduates are men. Would you consider this
event likely or unlikely to occur? Explain your answer.
37.32% The event is unlikely to occur given by the fact that the probability is less than 50%.

6. Prison Populations If 25% of U.S. federal prison inmates are not U.S. citizens, find the
probability that 2 randomly selected federal prison inmates will not be U.S. citizens. Source:
Harper’s Index.
6.25%
7. Computer Ownership At a local university 54.3% of incoming first-year students have
computers. If 3 students are selected at random, find the following probabilities.
a. None have computers. 9.54%
b. At least one has a computer. 90.46%
c. All have computers. 16.01%

8. Cards If 2 cards are selected from a standard deck of 52 cards without replacement, find
these probabilities.
a. Both are spades. 13/52 x 12/51 = 156/2652 = 1/17
b. Both are the same suit. 4/4 x 12/51 = 12/51
c. Both are kings. 4/52 x 3/51 = 12/2652 = 1/221

9. MLS Players Of the 216 players on major league soccer rosters, 80.1% are U.S. citizens. If 3
players are selected at random for an exhibition, what is the probability that all are U.S.
citizens? Source: USA TODAY.
.801 raise to 3 = 51.39%
173/216 x 172/215 x 171/ 214 =3287/6420 = 51.2%

10. Cable Television In 2006, 86% of U.S. households had cable TV. Choose households at
random. Find the probability that
a. None of the 3 households had cable TV 0.27%
b. All 3 households had cable TV 63.61%
c. At least 1 of the 3 households had cable TV 99.73%

11. Working Women and Computer Use It is reported that 72% of working women use
computers at work. Choose 5 working women at random. Find
a. The probability that at least 1 doesn't use a computer at work 80.65%
b. The probability that all 5 use a computer in their jobs 19.35%
PROGRESS CHECK
1. Define and give three examples of a random variable.
A random variable is a variable whose value is unknown or a function that assigns
values to each of an experiment's outcomes; A Random Variable is a set of possible values
from a random experiment.

A variable whose values are determined by chance.

Throwing a die once:

Random Variable X = "The score shown on the top face".
X could be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6
So, the Sample Space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

Tossing a coin once:

Random Variable X = "The side of the coin that is perceptible".
X could be Head or Tail
So, the Sample Space is {H,T}

The selection of a numbered ball (1-50) in an urn:

Random Variable X = "The number of the drawn ball".
X could be from 1 to 50
So, the Sample Space is {1, 2, 3,…,50}

2. Explain the difference between a discrete and a continuous random variable.

The main difference between the two kinds of variables Is that discrete random variable
is a kind of variable that has finite number of values or infinite number of values that can be
counted. While, continuous random variable is a variable that can assume all values in the
interval between any two given values and these data are garnered through measuring rather
than counting.
3. Give three examples of a discrete random variable.
Examples: number of students present
number of red marbles in a jar
number of heads when flipping three coins
students’ grade level

4. Give three examples of a continuous random variable.

Examples: height of students in class

 weight of students in class
time it takes to get to school
distance traveled between classes
5. What is a probability distribution? Give an example.
A probability distribution is a function that describes the likelihood of obtaining the
possible values that a random variable can assume. In other words, the values of the variable
vary based on the underlying probability distribution.

For Exercises 6 through 11, determine whether the distribution represents a probability
distribution. If it does not, state why

6. Not a probability distribution – the sum of all the probabilities p(x) Is not equal to 1. 10/11
7. Not a probability distribution –P(x) can’t be -0.8
8. Not a probability distribution –P(x) can’t be -0.8
9. Probability Distribution
10. Probability Distribution
11. Not a probability distribution –P(x) can’t be 1.2

For Exercises 12 through 18, state whether the variable is discrete or continuous.
12. The speed of a jet airplane Continuous
13. The number of cheeseburgers a fast-food restaurant serves each day Discrete
14. The number of people who play the state lottery each day Discrete
15. The weight of a Siberian tiger Continuous
16. The time it takes to complete a marathon Continuous
17. The number of mathematics majors in your school Discrete
18. The blood pressures of all patients admitted to a hospital on a specific day Continuous

For Exercises 19 through 26, state whether the variable is discrete or continuous.

19. Medical Tests The probabilities that a patient will have 0, 1, 2, or 3 medical tests performed
on entering a hospital are 6/15, 5/15, 3/15, and 1/15, respectively
Discrete Prob
20. Student Volunteers The probabilities that a student volunteer hosts 1, 2, 3, or 4
prospective first-year students are 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1, respectively.
Discrete Prob
21. Birthday Cake Sales The probabilities that a bakery has a demand for 2, 3, 5, or 7 birthday
cakes on any given day are 0.35, 0.41, 0.15, and 0.09, respectively.
Discrete Prob
22. DVD Rentals The probabilities that a customer will rent 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 DVDs on a single
visit to the rental store are 0.15, 0.25, 0.3, 0.25, and 0.05, respectively.
Discrete Prob
23. Loaded Die A die is loaded in such a way that the probabilities of getting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
are 1/2, 1/6, 1/12, 1/12, 1/12, and 1/12, respectively.
Discrete Prob
24. Item Selection The probabilities that a customer selects 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 items at a
convenience store are 0.32, 0.12, 0.23, 0.18, and 0.15, respectively.
Discrete Prob
25. Student Classes The probabilities that a student is registered for 2, 3, 4, or 5 classes are
0.01, 0.34, 0.62, and 0.03, respectively.
Discrete Prob
26. Garage Space The probabilities that a randomly selected home has garage space for 0, 1,
2, or 3 cars are 0.22, 0.33, 0.37, and 0.08, respectively.
Discrete Prob
27. Selecting a Monetary Bill A box contains three $1 bills, two $5 bills, five $10 bills, and one
$20 bill. Construct a probability distribution for the data if x represents the value of a single bill
drawn at random and then replaced.
X $1 $5 $10 $20
P(X) 3/11 2/11 5/11 1/11

28. Family with Children Construct a probability distribution for a family of three children. Let X
represent the number of boys.

X 0 1 2 3
P(X) 1/8 3/8 3/8 1/8

29. Drawing a Card Construct a probability distribution for drawing a card from a deck of 40
cards consisting of 10 cards numbered 1, 10 cards numbered 2, 15 cards numbered 3, and 5
cards numbered 4.
X 1 2 3 4
P(X) ¼ ¼ 3/8 1/8

30. Rolling Two Dice Using the sample space for tossing two dice, construct a probability
distribution for the sums 2 through 12.
X 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
P(X) 1/36 1/18 1/12 1/9 5/36 1/6 5/36 1/9 1/12 1/18 1/36
Progress Check
1. Defective Transistors From past experience, a company has found that in cartons of
transistors, 92% contain no defective transistors, 3% contain one defective transistor,
3% contain two defective transistors, and 2% contain three defective transistors. Find
the mean, variance, and standard deviation for the defective transistors. About how
many extra transistors per day would the company need to replace the defective ones if
it used 10 cartons per day?

X P(X) X.P(X) X2.P(X)

0 .92 0 0
1 .03 .03 .03
2 .03 .06 .12
3 .02 .06 .18
SUM Mean=0.15 .33
Mean= 0.15
Variance= 0.33-0.152=0.3075
S.D. = 0.5545
Two extra transistors per day the company needs to replace.

2. Suit Sales The number of suits sold per day at a retail store is shown in the table, with the
corresponding probabilities. Find the mean, variance, and standard deviation of the distribution.
X P(X) X.P(X) X2.P(X)
0 .18 0 0
1 .34 .34 .34
2 .23 .46 .92
3 .21 .63 1.89
4 .04 .16 .64
SUM Mean=1.59 3.79

Mean=1.59
Variance= 3.79-1.592=1.2619
S.D.= 1.1233

If the manager of the retail store wants to be sure that he has enough suits for the next 5 days,
how many should the manager purchase? 1.59 x 5 = 8 suits

3. Number of Credit Cards A bank vice president feels that each savings account
customer has, on average, three credit cards. The following distribution represents the
number of credit cards people own. Find the mean, variance, and standard deviation.
Is the vice president correct?

X P(X) X.P(X) X2.P(X)

0 .18 0 0
1 .44 .44 .44
2 .27 .54 1.08
3 .08 .24 .72
4 .03 .12 .48
S Mean=1.34 2.72
Mean = 1.34
Variance = 2.72-1.342=0.9244
s.d. = 0.9615
the vice president was incorrect since the mean number of credit cards that a person own is
1.34 or 1 credit card only.