UNIVERSITY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Ohrid University, Macedonia

Probability and Statistics
- First mid-term exam - 07.04.2022 -

1. (20) The density of the earth. In 1798 the English scientist Henry Cavendish measured the density of the earth by
careful work with a torsion balance. The variable recorded was the density of the earth as a multiple of the density
of water. Here are Cavendish’s 29 measurements:

After grouping the data into 4 class intervals with equal width:
a) Make a summary table for the frequency, relative frequency and “less than” grouped cumulative frequency
distribution for the given data.
b) Make a frequency histogram.
c) Find the approximate sample mean, approximate mode, approximate median and approximate sample variance.
Explain how the relationship between the mean and the median reflects the shape of the distribution.
d) Give the five-number summary and explain briefly how it reflects the shape of the distribution.

2. (20) A Selection committee has three members. Members of the committee decide independently of one another.
Two members make the right decision with probability 0.98, a third member of the jury make the right decision with
probability 0.92. The final jury decision is adopted by majority votes. Find the probability of the event that the final
decision of the jury is the right one.

3. (20) 1% of people have a certain genetic defect. 90% of tests for the gene detect the defect (true positives). 9.6% of
the tests are false positives. If a person gets a positive test result, what are the odds they actually have the genetic
defect?

4. (20) Consider the experiment of throwing a fair die until the sum of the numbers of dots obtained is not greater than
four. Let the r.v. X denote the number of throws.
a) Find pmf and cdf of the r.v .
b) Find the probability of the event that at least once two dots appear.
c) Find the mean and variance of the r.v.
5. (20) Let X be a random variable with probability density function

c  x 2  9  ,  3  x  3
fX  x   , where c is a constant.
 0, otherwise
Find the following:
a) The value of c.
b) The cumulative distribution function of X.
c) Pr(X > 0),
d) Pr(X < -3),
e) Pr(X < 1| X > -1).

6. (5) A survey of students in an introductory statistics class asked the following questions: (a) how much did you spend
on shoes last year? (b) weight; (c) do you like hiking? (yes, no). Classify each of these variables as categorical or
quantitative and give reasons for your answers.

7. (10) Which of the following is the best description of the data used to generate this histogram (note that the
horizontal axis has no scale, so you will make your choice based solely upon the histogram's shape)?

1. SAT Math scores of 1,000 future engineers and scientists.

2. Results of rolling a six-sided die 1,000 times.
3. Cholesterol levels of 1,000 adults.
4. Shoe sizes of 1,000 men and women.
5. Prices of 1,000 California homes.

a b c
a a a

d e
a a
8. (5) A recent survey asked 90 students, How many hours do you spend on the computer in a typical day? Of the 90
respondents, 3 said 1 hour, 5 said 2 hours, 15 said 3 hours, 25 said 4 hours, 20 said 5 hours, 15 said 6 hours, 5 said 7
hours, 1 said 8 hours, and 1 said 9 hours. What is mode number of hours spent on the computer?
a) 1 b) 4 c) 9 d) 5 .

• Total Probability: Bayes’s Theorem:

f 2  f1
 Approximate Mode  b  w
 f 2  f1    f 2  f3 
b is the lower boundary of the mode class,
f1, f2, f3 are the frequency of the class that precedes the modal class, of the modal class and class that
follows modal class in the distribution, respectively and w is the class width.
n
  f1
 Approximate Median  b  2 w
f me

b is the lower boundary of the median class,

f 1 - cumulative frequency from classes that precede the median class,

fme - is the frequency of the median and w is the class width.

 Let  xi , fi  , i  1, 2,..., k is a frequency distribution of the sample X1 , X 2 ,..., X n for the variable X with
a set of observation values x1 , x2 ,..., xn , then arithmetic mean of the sample, or sample mean is
1 k
obtained by the formula: x   fi  xi .
n i 1

 The sample variance, denoted by s 2 , of a set of n observed values having a mean x is the sum of the
squared deviations divided by n − 1:
2
1 n 1  n 2 2
s 
2

n  1 i 1
xi  x  or, s 2  
 xi  nx  .
n  1  i 1 

NOTE: For determining the approximate mean and variance from a grouped frequency distribution first we
obtain the class marks for the class intervals and then we use the previous formula for the sample mean and
variance.
Mean:   E  X    xp( x)
xRX

Variance:  2  ( x   ) 2 p ( x)  E  X 2    E  X  
2

where: E  X 2   x 2
p( x)
xRX

Standard deviation:    2