Workshop
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ScribdTranslationsPROPOSED EXERCISES:
1. Hamburger meat: The meat department at a local supermarket specifically
prepares its "1-pound" packages of ground beef so that there are a variety of
weights, some slightly more and some slightly less than 1 pound. Assume that the
weights of these "1 pound" packages are normally distributed with a mean of 1.00
pound and a standard deviation of 0.15 pounds. Determine:
a. What proportion of the packages will weigh more than one pound?
P ( x> 1 )
We make the change of scale
x −μ
Z=
σ
1−1
Z= =0
0.15
Looking for this z value in the normal distribution table we find:
P ( x> 1 )=0.5
b. What proportion of the packages will weigh between 0.95 and 1.05 pounds?
P ( 0.95< x <1.05 )=P ( 1.05> x )−P ( 0.95> x )
1.05−1
P ( 1.05> x ) ; Z= =0.33
0.15
P ( 0.95> x )=1−P ( 0.95< x )
0.95−1
P ( 0.95< x ) ; Z= =0.33
0.15
Looking up the corresponding values in the table
P ( 1.05> x )=0.6293
P ( 0.95> x )=1−0.6293=0.3707
So the proportion of the packages that are in that price range is:
P ( 0.95< x <1.05 )=0.6293−0.3707=0.2586
c. What is the probability that a randomly selected package of ground beef weighs
less than 0.80 pounds?
P ( 0.8> x )=1−P ( 0.8 < x )
0.8−1
Z= =1.33
0.15
Looking up the value in the table:
P ( 0.8< x )=0.9082
Therefore:
P ( 0.8> x )=1−0.9082=0.0918=9.18 %
d. Would it be unusual to find a package of ground beef that weighs 1.45 pounds?
How would you explain such a large package?
As we move away from the mean the probability decreases considerably tending to
0, however there is always a probability even if it is very small, so we can conclude
that it would be uncommon as we can see in the following calculation:
P ( 1.45< x )=1−P ( 1.45> x )
1.45−1
Z= =3
0.15
P ( 1.45> x )=0.9986
P ( 1.45< x )=1−0.9986=0.0014
We can see that the probability of weighing more than 1.45 is very low.
2. Height in people: Height in people is one of the many biological variables that
can be modeled by the normal distribution. Assume that male heights have a mean
of 1.79 mt, with a standard deviation of 0.085 mt. Determine:
a. What proportion of all men will be taller than 1.76m.
P ( x> 1.76 )
We make the change of scale
x −μ
Z=
σ
1 .76−1.79
Z= =0.3529
0.085
Looking for this z value in the normal distribution table we find:
P ( x> 1.76 )=0.6368
b. What is the probability that a randomly selected man is between 1.60 m and
1.70 m tall?
P ( 1.6< x <1.7 ) =P ( 1.6 < x )−P ( 1.7< x )
1. 6−1 .79
P ( 1.6< x ) ; Z= =2.23
0.085
1.7−1.79
P ( 1.7< x ) ; Z= =1.05
0.085
Looking up the corresponding values in the table
P ( 1.6< x )=0.9871
P ( 1.7< x )=0.8531
So the proportion of the packages that are in that price range is:
P ( 1.6< x <1.7 ) =0.9871−0.8531=0.134=13.4 %
c. President George W. Bush is 1.68 meters tall. Is this a rare stature?
Yes, since the average height is 1.79 and there is a standard deviation of 0.085,
which is relatively low. In the previous section, we calculated the probability that a
man chosen at random would measure more than 1.7 and it turned out to be
85.31%, which shows that those who measure less than 1.7 represent only
14.69%, so we can conclude that this is an uncommon height.
d. Of the 42 presidents elected from 1789 to 2006 in the U.S., 18 were 6'2" or
taller. Would you consider this to be uncommon.
We can calculate the probability of picking a man at random and having this height
to verify it:
P ( 1.85< x )=1−P ( 1.85> x )
1. 85−1.79
Z= =0.705 ; P ( 1.85> x )=0.7611
0.085
P ( 1.45> x )=1−0.7611=0.2389=23.89 %
As we can see, it is not so uncommon since they represent more than 20%, which
is a considerable figure.
7. A phosphate mine. The discharge of suspended solids from a phosphate mine
is normally distributed, with an average daily discharge of 27 milligrams per liter
(mg/l) and a standard deviation of 14 mg/l. What proportion of days per year will
the daily discharge exceed 50 mg/l?
P ( x> 50 )=1−P ( x <50 )
50−27
Z= =1.64 ; P ( x <50 ) =0.9495
14
P ( x> 50 )=1−0.9495=0.0505=5.05 %
As we can see, the probability of exceeding 50 mg/l on a given day is 5.05%,
however, we are asked the proportion in a year, which is multiplied by all the days
of the year, arriving at the following answer:
P=0.0505∗365=18.43
Therefore, we can conclude that between 18 and 19 days it will exceed 50 mg/l.
9. Respiratory frequency. The number of times x that an adult human breathes
per minute, when at rest, depends on their age and varies greatly from person to
person. Assume that the probability distribution for x is approximately normal, with
mean equal to 16 and standard deviation equal to 4. If a person is randomly
selected and x number of breaths per minute is recorded when at rest, determine:
a. what is the probability that x exceeds 22?
P ( x> 22 )=1−P ( x <22 )
x −μ 22−16
Z= = =1.5
σ 4
P ( x< 22 )=0.9332
P ( x> 22 )=1−0.9332=0.0668=6.68 %
b. what is the probability that x does not exceed 18?
P ( x< 18 )
x −μ 18−16
Z= = =0.5
σ 4
P ( x< 18 )=0. 6915=69.15 %
c. what is the probability that x is between 20 and 14?
P ( 14< x <20 )=P ( x >14 )−P ( x >20 )
14−16
P ( x> 14 ) ; Z= =0.5
4
P ( x> 20 )=1−P ( x <20 )
20−16
P ( x< 20 ) ; Z= =1
4
Looking at the values in the table we obtain
P ( x> 14 )=0.6915
P ( x> 20 )=1−0.8413=0.1587
Calculating the total probability
P ( 14< x <20 )=0.6915−0.1587=0.5328=53.28 %
15.How many words? An editor has discovered that the word counts contained in
a new manuscript are normally distributed, with a mean equal to 20 thousand
words more than specified in the author's contract and a standard deviation of 5
thousand words. If the publisher wants to be almost certain (say with a probability
of 0.95) that the manuscript is less than 100,000 words, what word count should
the publisher specify in the contract?
Since we want the probability to be 0.95 then we look in the table to what value of
Z corresponds to this probability, obtaining:
Z=1.65
Now to calculate the number of words to which this probability corresponds we
clear the expression used to make the change of scale
x −μ
Z=
σ
x−20000
1.65=
5000
1.65 ∙5000=x−20000
8250=x−20000
x=20000+ 8250
x=28250
This value corresponds to the number of additional words it contains, so if you
want it to be less than 100000 then:
Total=100000−28250
Total=71750
So we can conclude that the publisher must specify that there are 71750 words to
have 95% confidence that there are less than 100000 words.
