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ENGRD 2700: Basic Engineering Probability and Statistics Fall 2020 Homework 3

1) There are 24 undergraduate students to assign to project teams of 4 people each. There are (24 choose 4) = 5,184 ways to form the teams. If there are 11 men and 13 women, there are (11 choose 2)(13 choose 2) = 462 ways to form a team with 2 men and 2 women. 2) A stolen ATM card has the PIN digits 7 and 2 in the first and last positions. The chance of randomly guessing the middle digits on the first try is 1/81. The chance of accessing the account is 1/81 * (80/81) * (79/81) = 1/6561. 3) If the first and

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269 views10 pages

ENGRD 2700: Basic Engineering Probability and Statistics Fall 2020 Homework 3

1) There are 24 undergraduate students to assign to project teams of 4 people each. There are (24 choose 4) = 5,184 ways to form the teams. If there are 11 men and 13 women, there are (11 choose 2)(13 choose 2) = 462 ways to form a team with 2 men and 2 women. 2) A stolen ATM card has the PIN digits 7 and 2 in the first and last positions. The chance of randomly guessing the middle digits on the first try is 1/81. The chance of accessing the account is 1/81 * (80/81) * (79/81) = 1/6561. 3) If the first and

Uploaded by

osepper
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ENGRD 2700: Basic Engineering Probability and Statistics

Fall 2020

Homework 3

Due Monday, September 28th at 5pm. Submit Solutions to Gradescope by clicking the name of the assign-
ment. See syllabus for detailed submission instructions.

When completing this assignment (and all subsequent ones), keep in mind the following:

• You must complete the homework individually and independently.


• Provide evidence for each of your answers. If a calculation involves only very minor computation then
explain the computation you performed and give the results. If a calculation involves more complicated
steps on many many records then hand in the calculations and formulas for the first few records only.
• Write clearly and legibly. You are encouraged to type your work although you do not have to. We may
deduct points if your answers are difficult to read or disorganized.
• For questions that you answer using R, attach any code that you write, along with the relevant plots.
You may use other software, but the same condition applies.
• Submit your homework a single pdf file on Gradescope.
1. A deck of cards consists of fifty two cards. There are four suits Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, each
containing thirteen cards. Among these thirteen cards, there are nine of them numbered from 2 to 10
and the other four are special cards, namely Ace, King, Queen and Jack. In how many ways can we
draw six cards such that
(a) All six cards are hearts.
(b) There are three aces, two kings and one queen.
(c) There are three cards of one suit, and three of another suit.
2. A word consisting of letters is called a palindrome if it reads the same backward as forward (e.g,
ABCBA, AABCBAA, AAAA). For a positive integer n, how many palindromes are there consisting of
n letters? (Hint: consider the cases when n is odd or even).
3. There are 24 undergraduate students to assign to project teams. Suppose each project team must
consist of exactly 4 people.
(a) In how many ways, the project teams can be formed?
(b) Suppose there are 11 men and 13 women students. In how many different ways are there to form
a team consisting of exactly 2 men and 2 women students?
4. An ATM personal identification number (PIN) consists of four digits, each a 0, 1, 2, ...8, or 9, in suc-
cession.
(a) How many different possible PINs are there if there are no restrictions on the choice of digits?
(b) According to a representative at the author’s local branch of Cornell Federal Credit Union
(CFCU), there are in fact restrictions on the choice of digits. The following choices are pro-
hibited: (i) all four digits identical (ii) sequences of consecutive ascending or descending digits,
such as 6543 (iii) any sequence starting with 19 (birth years are too easy to guess). So if one of
the PINs in (a) is randomly selected, what is the probability that it will be a legitimate PIN (that
is, not be one of the prohibited sequences)?
(c) Someone has stolen an ATM card and knows that the first and last digits of the PIN are 7 and
2, respectively. He has three tries before the card is retained by the ATM (but does not realize
that). So he randomly selects the 2nd and 3rd digits for the first try, then randomly selects a
different pair of digits for the second try, and yet another randomly selected pair of digits for the
third try (the individual knows about the restrictions described in (b) so selects only from the
legitimate possibilities). What is the probability that the individual gains access to the account?
(d) Recalculate the probability in (c) if the first and last digits are 1 and 1, respectively.
5. Troy Mullins is single and she has recently discovered the app Tinder. Her Cornell sorority sisters tell
her to click ”right” if she likes a guy and ”up” if she does not. After looking at 250 guys, she has
completed 50 rights and 200 ups.

(a) How many paths are to the point (50,200) in the plane such that each step either consists of going
one unit up or one unit to the right?
(b) How many paths are to the point (70, 180) if she passes through the point (34,70)?
Figure 1: The best sneaker ever made.

6. You are a sneaker enthusiast and have bought four pairs of new shoes from Nike. However, Nike decides
to send each shoe in an individual box.
(a) If you open four boxes at random, what is the probability that you do not have a pair that go
together?
(b) If you open five boxes, what is the probability that you have at most two pairs?
Figure 2: The best intramural basketball team ever assembled.

7. A group of ten people get together to play a game of basketball at Barton Hall. Seven of the people
are undergraduates and three of them are Professors. They will divide themselves into two teams of
five players each.

(a) In how many ways can this be done?


(b) How many ways can it be done if each team needs at least one Professor?
8. In the World Series, the first team to win 4 games wins the series. Therefore, no more than 7 games
are played. If the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are playing each other,
(a) If the Yankees win the first 2 games, how many ways can the series be completed?
(b) If the Yankees win the first 3 games, how many ways can the series be completed?
(c) How many ways can the world series be played if the Yankees win 4 games in a row?
(d) How many ways an a world series be played if neither the Yankees or Red Sox win 2 games in a
row?
Figure 3: Ruth Bader Ginsberg at Cornell.

9. The Supreme Court will miss Ruth Bader Ginsberg, one of the greatest Cornell Alums and Supreme
Court Justices ever. Right before Ruth passed away, she and the rest of the Supreme Court were
debating the case, Prof. Pender vs. Steph Curry.

(a) Given that Ruth will vote in favor of Prof. Pender, how many different ways are there for Prof.
Pender to win his case. Reminder, there are 9 justices in total, which includes Ruth.
(b) As an aside, there is a famous probabilist named Ruth who works at UCSD. Can you list her full
name (including her middle name) and something interesting about her research.

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