Mixed review

7 Quantifying uncertainty:
probabilty, binomial and normal
distributions
1 In Alex’s class, 91% of the students passed physics and 85% passed chemistry. 80% of the
students passed both physics and chemistry. A student is chosen at random from the class.

a Determine if the events “the student passed physics” and “the student passed chemistry”
are independent.

b A randomly chosen student passed physics. Find the probability that he/she did not pass
chemistry.

2 A garden centre classifies sunflowers according to their height. Sunflowers taller than 335cm
are classified as tall. Assume that the height of a sunflower H is normally distributed with mean
320 cm and standard deviation 10 cm

a On a sketch graph, shade the region representing P(H > 335).

b Given that P(H < h) = P(H > 335), find the value of h.

c Hence find P(h < H < 335).

d In a delivery of 3215 sunflowers, find the expected number of sunflowers that are not
classified as tall.

3 Rea is setting up a biology experiment. She has three agar plates with bacteria for which the
growth of the number of bacteria follow a geometric sequence with common ratios and first
terms as shown in this table.

Agar Common ratio r First term

plate (the number of bacteria increase by (initial number of bacteria b1 in
a factor of r every minute) the agar plate)
X 1.9 300

Y 1.5 400

Z 2.7 100

Rea forgets how she labels the agar plates and picks a plate at random.

Find the probability that after 7 minutes the plate Rea chooses has at least 10000 bacteria.

4 Anrai and Clara design a game in which two tetrahedral die with faces numbered 1,2,3 and 4
are thrown. S is the total of the two numbers thrown on the dice.

a Represent the probability distribution of S in a table.

b Represent the probability distribution of S as a function g=

(s) P=
(S s)

c Anrai and Clara’s game costs $x to play. Players win $(x + 1) if S is a multiple of 4 and if S
is 6 they win $(x + 2) . Otherwise, they lose the $x they paid to play. Find the value of $x
that makes the game fair.

5 An integer is chosen at random from the first 2000 positive integers. Find the probability that
the integer is

a A multiple of 6 b A multiple 8. c A multiple of both 6 and 8.

d Determine if the events “choose a multiple of 6” and “choose a multiple of 8” are

independent

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6 The coffee machine in the Pi café has three coffee dispensers P, Q and R. The probabilities that
each malfunctions on a given day are 0.007, 0.003 and 0.001 respectively.

a Find the probability that exactly one of the dispensers malfunctions on a given day.

b Find the probability that at least one of the dispensers will malfunction on a given day.

7 A solar powered traffic speed monitor (SPTSM) is in the design stage. A SPTSM is powered by
solar cells and will function provided at least one of the cells is working. The cells function
independently of each other and the probability that a cell fails within one year is 0.75.

a Find the probability that a prototype SPTSM with six solar cells will cease to function within
one year.

b The manufacturers wish to market a SPTSM with a guarantee that the product will still be
operating at the end of a year is at least 0.98. Find the smallest number of cells that the
SPTSM should have in order for this to be the case.

8 In a maths competition, a team of four mathematicians have ten minutes to tackle a tough
problem. Student A has 10% chance of solving the problem. Student B has 11%, student C
17% and student D 8%. If they all try the problem independently of each other, find the
probability that after the ten minutes, the group will have solved the problem.

9 A 10 km challenge walk is organised to raise funds for a charity. Data collected from previous
years shows that the finishing times follow a normal distribution with mean 100 minutes and
standard deviation 25 minutes.

a Find the probability that a randomly chosen participant will finish the walk in less than two
hours.

b The fastest 10% of the participants receive a certificate of commendation. Find to the
nearest minute the time below which a participant must finish the walk in order to gain a
certificate.

c Zeke organises a team of five to take part in the walk together. The team of five all finish
the walk. Find the probability that at least 2 of the team finish the walk in under 110
minutes.

10 Two rugby players Achille and Barbora kick for goal at the same time. If Barbora is three times
as likely to score a goal as Achille, and if the probability of a goal being scored is ½, find the
probability that Barbora scores a goal.

Exam-style questions

11 Ricky has two bags containing beads. Bag A contains 6 red beads and 2 green beads. Bag B
contains 5 red beads and 3 green beads.

Ricky chooses a bead at random from bag A and places it in bag B.

He then chooses a bead at random from bag B.

a Construct a tree diagram to represent the possible outcomes of the above situation. On each
branch, write down the probability. (6)

b Find the probability that Ricky chooses two beads the same colour. (3)

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12 The following table shows the probability distribution of a discrete random variable X .

x 1 2 3 4 5
P (X = x) 0.1 α 0.1 0.15 β

a Given that E ( X ) = 2.45 , determine the value of α and the value of β . (5)

b Find P ( X > 2 | X ≤ 4 ) . (2)

c Two random observations of X are taken.

Find the probability that the sum obtained is greater than 8 . (3)

13 On any given day, the probability that it will rain on the island of Sokatoa is estimated to be
0.35 . The daily weather is observed on Sokatoa over the course of one month ( 28 consecutive
days).

X is the random variable ‘number of days on which it rains’.

a Find the probability that it rains on 14 days in total. (2)

b Find the largest value of q such that P ( X ≤ q ) < 0.9 (3)

c Given that it rains on 14 days in total, find the probability that it rains on seven days during
the first two weeks and seven days during the second two weeks. (4)

14 Two points in three-dimensional space are given by the coordinates A ( p, p + 2,2 p − 1) and
B (1, −2, p + 1) where p is a constant.

Without using technology, find the exact value of p that minimises the distance AB , and
hence find the exact value of the minimum distance AB . To obtain full marks, you must show
all your working. (8)

15 44 children were selected to take part in a questionnaire. Their ages were recorded and
presented in the table below.

Age of child ( x ) Frequency ( f )

5 ≤ x < 10 12

10 ≤ x < 12 13

12 ≤ x < 14 6

14 ≤ x < 16 5

16 ≤ x < 18 8

a State the modal class for the age of the participants. (1)

b Find estimates for the mean age and standard deviation in age. (5)

c The same children were surveyed 2.5 years later

i Find a new estimate for the mean of their ages.

ii Find a new estimate for the standard deviation in their ages, giving a reason for your
answer. (4)

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Answers

1 a The events are not independent. b 0.11

2 a

b h=305 c 0.866 d 3000

2
3
3

4 a s 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

P(S = s) 1 2 3 4 3 2 1
16 16 16 16 16 16 16

s −1
 16 2≤s≤5
b P(=
S s=
)  c $5
9 − s 6 ≤ s ≤ 8
 16

21 1 83
5 a b c
125 8 2000

d they are not independent.

6 a 0.010938 b 0.010969

7 a 0.178 b 14

8 0.388356

9 a 0.788 b 88 minutes c 0.949

10 0.418861

11 a

(6)

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 Mixed review

3 2 1 4
b  × + ×  (2)
4 3 4 9
1 1
= +
2 9
11
= (1)
18

12 a 0.1 + α + 0.1 + 0.15 + β =

1 M1

⇒α +β =
0.65

(1 × 0.1) + 2α + (3 × 0.1) + ( 4 × 0.15) + 5β 2.45

= M1

⇒ 2α + 5β =
1.45

Attempting to solve simultaneously: M1

α = 0.6 A1

β = 0.05 A1

b 0.1 + 0.15 M1

= 0.25 A1

c P ( X1 =
P( X1 + X 2 > 8) = 5 ) + P ( X1 =
4, X 2 = 4 ) + P ( X1 =
5, X2 = 5)
X2 = M1

= (2 × 0.15 × β ) + β 2

=(2 × 0.15 × 0.05) + 0.052 M1

= 0.0175 A1

13 a X ~ B (28, 0.35) M1

( X 14
P= = ) 0.0399 A1

b P ( X ≤ 12 ) =
0.857 A1

P ( X ≤ 13) =
0.926 A1

So X = 12 A1

c If Y is the event ‘number of days on which it rains in two weeks’ then Y ~ B (14, 0.35) . M1

P (7 days 1st 2 weeks and 7 days 2nd 2 weeks 14 days total)

P (Y =7 ) × P (Y =7)
= M1
P ( X = 14 )

0.108247 × 0.108247
= A1
0.039908

= 0.294 A1

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 Mixed review

14 Use of d 2 = ( x2 − x1 ) + ( y2 − y1 ) + ( z2 − z1 )
2 2 2
M1

= ( p − 1) + ( p + 4 ) + ( p − 2 )
2 2 2
A1

= p2 − 2 p + 1 + p2 + 8 p + 16 + p2 − 4 p + 4

= 3p2 + 2 p + 21 A1

Attempt to complete the square: M1

 2 
= 3  p2 + p + 7
 3 

 1
2
1 
= 3  p +  − + 7 
 3 9 

2
 1 62
= 3p +  + A2
 3 3

1
So p = − A1
3

62
Therefore ABmin = A1
3

15 a 10 ≤ x < 12 A1

b x =
(7.5 × 12) + (11 × 13) + (13 × 6 ) + (15 × 5) + (17 × 8) M1A1
44

= 11.8 A1

Use of GDC ⇒ σ =
3.39 M1A1

c i New
= x 11.86 + 2.5 M1

= 14.4 A1

ii New σ = 3.39 A1

Although each age has increased, the spread of their ages still remains the same. R1

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