PRACTICE EXERCISES –2

MQM 100

Dr. Askar Choudhury

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 CHAPTER: 5,6,7

Probability Distributions
(Practice Problems)

Part-A: Multiple Choice Questions

1. The Secret Service monitors the number of death threats that are made on the President of the United
States. A recent report suggests that the number of death threats made on the President averages four per
week. Identify the type of variable that Secret Service must monitor and the specific distribution that
could most likely be used to model the number of death threats received.

a. Continuous, Binomial distribution

b. Continuous, Poisson distribution
c. Discrete, Binomial distribution
d. Discrete, Poisson distribution

2. The Department of Commerce in a particular state has determined that the number of small businesses
that declare bankruptcy per month is approximately a Poisson distribution with a mean of 6.4. Find the
probability that more than three bankruptcies occur next month.

a. .119
b. .765
c. .881
d. .954

3. A lab orders 100 rats a week (52 weeks a year) from a rat supplier for experiments that the lab conducts.
Prices for the rats follow the following distribution:

Price $10.00 $12.50 $15.00

Probability .35 .40 .25

How much should the lab budget for next year’s rat orders assuming this distribution does not change?
(Hint: find the expected price.)

a. $650
b. $780
c. $520
d. $637

4. The on-line access computer service industry is growing at an extraordinary rate. Current estimates
suggest that only 20% of the home-based computers have access to on-line services. This number is
expected to grow quickly over the next five years. Suppose 25 people with home-based computers were
randomly and independently sampled. Find the probability that fewer than half of those sampled
currently have access to on-line services.

a. 1.000
b. .998
c. .994
d. .999

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5. The on-line access computer service industry is growing at an extraordinary rate. Current estimates
suggest that only 20% of the home-based computers have access to on-line services. This number is
expected to grow quickly over the next five years. Suppose 25 people with home-based computers were
randomly and independently sampled. Find the probability that more than four but fewer than 10
currently have access to on-line services.

a. .562
b. .749
c. .377
d. .573

6. The on-line access computer service industry is growing at an extraordinary rate. Current estimates
suggest that only 20% of the home-based computers have access to on-line services. This number is
expected to grow quickly over the next five years. Suppose 25 people with home-based computers were
randomly and independently sampled. Find the probability that more than 20 do not currently have
access to on-line services.

a. .579
b. .617
c. .234
d. .421

7. The number of traffic accidents that occur on a particular stretch of road during a month follows a
Poisson distribution with a mean of 8.5. Find the probability that less than five accidents will occur next
month on this stretch of road.

a. .150
b. .926
c. .850
d. .074

8. The number of traffic accidents that occurs on a particular stretch of road during a month follows a
Poisson distribution with a mean of 8.5. Find the probability of observing exactly three accidents on this
stretch of road next month.

a. .007
b. 0
c. .021
d. .030

9. The number of traffic accidents that occurs on a particular stretch of road during a month follows a
Poisson distribution with a mean of 8.5. Find the probability that the next 2 months will both result in
eight accidents occurring on this stretch of road.

a. .2735
b. .137
c. .1490
d. .0188

10. The length of time it takes college students to find a parking spot in the library parking lot follows a

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 normal distribution with a mean of 3.5 minutes and a standard deviation of 1 minute. Find the probability
that a randomly selected college student will find a parking spot in the library parking lot in less than 3
minutes.

a. .1915
b. .3551
c. .2674
d. .3085

11. The length of time it takes college students to find a parking spot in the library parking lot follows a
normal distribution with a mean of 3.5 minutes and a standard deviation of 1 minute. Find the
probability that a randomly selected college student will take between 2 and 4.5 minutes to find a
parking spot in the library lot.

a. .4938
b. .0919
c. .2255
d. .7745

12. A company that sells annuities must base annual payout on the probability distribution of the length of
life of the participants in the plan. Suppose the probability distribution of the lifetimes of the participants
is approximately a normal distribution with a mean of 68 years and a standard deviation of 3.5 years.
What proportion of the plan participants would receive payments beyond age 75?

a. .4772
b. .5228
c. .0228
d. .9772

13. A company that sells annuities must base the annual payout on the probability distribution of the length
of life of the participants in the plan. Suppose the probability distribution of the lifetimes of the
participants is approximately a normal distribution with a mean of 68 years and a standard deviation of
3.5 years. What proportion of the plan participants die before they reach the standard retirement age of
65?

a. .1949
b. .3051
c. .6951
d. .8051

14. A company that sells annuities must base the annual payout on the probability distribution of the length
of life of the participants in the plan. Suppose the probability distribution of the lifetime of the
participants is approximately a normal distribution with a mean of 68 years and a standard deviation of
3.5 years. Find the age at which payments have ceased for approximately 86% of the plan participants.

a. 73.44 years old

b. 69.08 years old
c. 64.22 years old
d. 71.78 years old

15. The amount of time between pauses on a full-screen edit terminal is uniformly distributed between .2 and

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 .8 seconds. What is the expected pause time for the full-screen editor?

a. .4 seconds
b. .5 seconds
c. .6 seconds
d. .8 seconds

16. The amount of time between pauses on a full-screen edit terminal is uniformly distributed between .5 and
.8 seconds. What is the probability the amount of time between the next two pauses will exceed .75
seconds?

a. .1667
b. .8333
c. .0938
d. .2267

17. The amount of time between pauses on a full-screen edit terminal is uniformly distributed between .2 and
.8 seconds. What is the probability the amount of time between the next two pauses will be less than .6
seconds?

a. .4000
b. .3333
c. .6667
d. .6000

18. Suppose Stat I students' ages follow a skewed right distribution with a mean of 23 years old and a
standard deviation of 3 years. If we randomly sampled 100 students, which of the following statements
about the sampling distribution of the sample mean age is incorrect?

a. The standard deviation of the sampling distribution is equal to 3 years.

b. The shape of the sampling distribution is approximately normal.
c. The mean of the sampling distribution is approximately 23 years old.
d. All of the above statements are correct,

19. Which of the following is true about the sampling distribution of the sample mean?

a. The mean of the sampling distribution is always µ.

b. The standard deviation of the sampling distribution is always σ.
c. The shape of the sampling distribution is always approximately normal.
d. All of the above are true.

20. A local bank reported to the federal government that its 5,246 savings accounts have a mean balance of
$1,000 and a standard deviation of $240. Government auditors have asked to randomly sample 64 of the
bank's accounts to assess the reliability of the mean balance reported by the bank. If the bank's
information is correct, find the probability that the sample mean balance would be less than $928.

a. .1179
b. .3821
c. .4918
d. .0082

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21. Water availability is of prime importance in the life cycle of most reptiles. To determine the rate of
evaporative water loss of a certain species of lizard at a particular desert site, 34 such lizards were
randomly collected, weighed, and placed under the appropriate experimental conditions. After 24 hours,
each lizard was removed, reweighed, and its total water loss was calculated as the difference between
initial body weight and body weight after treatment. Previous studies have shown that the distribution of
water loss for the lizards has a mean of 3.1 grams and a standard deviation of 0.8 gram. Find the
approximate probability that the 34 lizards have a mean water loss between 2.0 and 3.30 grams.

a. .5149
b. .4279
c. .9279
d. .3175

22. Which of the following is NOT an example of a binomial experiment?

a. Whether or not mass-produced parts are defective or not defective.

b. Determining whether or not a certain task is accomplished in 10 minutes.
c. Determining if the average weekly pay rate per employee last year was greater or was not greater
than the same period in the previous year.
d. Determining the average number of words per minute a typist can type.

23. The number of telephone calls received per day at a particular telephone number can be best modeled by
using the

a. normal distribution
b. binomial distribution
c. poisson distribution
d. uniform distribution

24. Suppose that you receive an average of 3 telephone calls per day at a particular number. What is the
probability that the number of calls you receive will be exactly 4 on a randomly selected day?

a. 0.815
b. 0.168
c. 0.185
d. 0.647

25. The number of defects per square yard of cloth produced by a loom is a random variable for which the
appropriate probability model is most likely:

a. the normal distribution

b. the binomial distribution
c. the uniform distribution
d. the poisson distribution

26. Given a binomial distribution with p=0.70, what is the probability of exactly 3 successes in n=7 trials?

a. 0.097
b. 0.126
c. 0.029
d. 0.210

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27. The greatest number of complaints by owners of two-year old automobiles is in the area of electrical
system performance. In an annual questionnaire of owners of over 300 makes and models of automobile,
consumer report found that 10% of the owners of two-year-old automobiles found trouble spots in the
electrical system.

What is probability that a sample of 12 owners of two-year-old automobiles will find exactly 2 owners
with electrical system problem?

a. 0.120
b. 0.230
c. 0.180
d. 0.000

28. Continued from #27, what is the probability that sample of 20 owners of two-year-old automobiles will
find at least two electrical system problems?

a. 0.608
b. 0.392
c. 0.677
d. 0.285

29. Settlers Bay restaurant has a reputation for good food. Restaurant boasts that on a Saturday night,
customers arrive at the rate of 20 people every half-hour.

What is the probability that more than 5 people will arrive in a 15-minute period of time?

a. 0.067
b. 0.933
c. 0.000
d. 0.500

30. Continued from #29, what is the probability that exactly 5 people will arrive in a 15-minute period of
time?

a. 0.067
b. 0.933
c. 0.038
d. 0.029

31. Continued from #29, what is the probability that less than 5 people will arrive in a 15-minute period of
time?

a. 0.067
b. 0.933
c. 0.038
d. 0.029

32. The weights of Alaska grown cabbage are normally distributed with a mean of 51.0 pounds and standard
deviation of 1.0 pound. The probability that one randomly sampled cabbage will weigh at least 50.0
pound is:

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 a. 0.4772
b. 0.8413
c. 0.3413
d. 0.9772

33. Continued from #32, what is the probability that one randomly sampled cabbage will weigh at most 50.0
pounds is:

a. 0.1587
b. 0.8413
c. 0.3413
d. 0.9772

34. Continued from #32, what is the probability that one randomly sampled cabbage will weigh in between
50.0 and 51.0 pounds is:

a. 0.1587
b. 0.8413
c. 0.3413
d. 0.9772

35. Continued from #32, what is the probability that one randomly sampled cabbage will weigh in between
50.0 and 52.0 pounds is:

a. 0.1587
b. 0.8413
c. 0.3413
d. 0.9772
36. Continued from #32, the probability that the mean(average) weight of four randomly sampled (n=4)
cabbage will be at least 50.0 pounds is:

a. 0.9772
b. 0.4772
c. 0.3413
d. 0.6826

37. Continued from #36, the probability that the mean (average) weight of four randomly sampled cabbages
will be at most 50.0 pounds is:
a. 0.4772
b. 0.0228
c. 0.9544
d. 0.9772

38. Continued from #36, the probability that the mean (average) weight of four randomly sampled cabbages
will be in between 50.0 and 51.0 pounds is:

a. 0.4772
b. 0.0228
c. 0.9544
d. 0.9772

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 ANSWER KEY

1. d
24. b
2. c
25. d
3. d
26. a
4. a
27. b
5. a
28. a
6. d
29. b
7. d
30. c
8. c
31. d
9. d
32. b
10. d
33. a
11. d
34. c
12. c
35. d
13. a
36. a
14. d
37. b
15. b
38. a
16. a

17. c

18. a

19. a

20. a

21. c

22. d

23. c

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Part-B:
A. General Probability Distribution:

1. X be a random variable with the following probability distribution:

X 1 2 3 4
P(x) .4 .3 .2 .1

a. Find E(X) and V(X).

b. Is E(X) a possible value of X?

2. Let X be a random variable with following probability distribution:

X 5 10 15 20 25
P(x) .05 .30 .25 .25 .15

a. Find the expected value and variance of X.

b. Find the expected value and variance of Y= 4X.

I. Corrected Exercise

Let X represent the number of children less than 18 years. old in an American family. According to
the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1989, the probability distribution of X is as follows:

X 0 1 2 3 4 5
P(x) .05 .21 .19 .07 .02 .01

a. Express the probability distribution of X in graphical form.

b. Comment on the symmetry or skewness of the distribution.

c. What is the most likely number of children in a family?

d. What is the probability of a family's having more than two children?

B. Binomial Probability Distribution

3. Let X be a binomial random variable. Use the formula to compute the following probabilities
where the relevant distribution is identified by its two parameters.

a. P(X=2) if n=8, p =0.1

b. P(X=5) if n=9, p =0.5
c. P(X=9) if n=10,p =0.95

Use table in appendix to check your answer.

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4. Let X be a binomial random variable .Use the formula to compute the following probabilities.

a. P(X=3) if n=5 and p=0.2

b. P(X=2) if n=6 and p=0.3
c. P(X=5) if n=7 and p =0.75

5. Given a binomial random variable X with n =15 and p =.3, find the following probability ,using
table 1(or table 2) in the Appendix.

a. P(X < 2) d. P(4 < X < 8)

b. P(X > 7) e. P(X >12)

c. P(X = 6)f. P(7< X <10)

II. Corrected Exercise

A multiple-choice quiz has 15 questions. Each question has five possible answers, of which only
one is correct.

a. What is the probability that sheer guesswork will yield at least seven correct answers?
b. What is the expected number of correct answers by sheer guesswork?

C. Poisson Probability Distribution

6. Compute the following Poisson probabilities, using the formula and table.

a. P(X = 4) if µ = 1
b. P(X < 1) if µ = 1.5
c. P(X > 2) if µ = 2

7. Suppose that X is a Poisson random variable whose distribution has mean of 2.5 .Use Table 3
(or Table 4) to dins the following probabilities :

a. P( X < 3)
b. P( X = 6)
c. P( X > 2)
d. P( 4 > 2 )

III. Corrected Exercise

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The marketing manager of a company has noticed that she usually receives 10 complaint calls from
customers during a week (which has five working days), and that the calls occur at random. Find the
probability for her receiving exactly 5 such calls in a single day.

8. The number of accidents that occur on an assembly line has a Poisson distribution, with an
average of 3 accidents per week.

a. Find the probability that a particular week will be accident -free.

b. Find the probability that at least 3 accidents will occur in a week.
c. Find the probability that exactly 5 accidents will occur in a week.

9. The number of arrivals at a service counter between 1:00 and 3:00 P.M. has a Poisson
distribution with a mean of 14.
a. Find the probability that the number of arrivals between 1:00 and 3:00 P.M. is at least 8.
b. Find the probability that the number of arrivals between 1:30 and 2:00 P.M. is a t least 8.
c. Find the probability of there being exactly arrival between 2:00 and 3:00 P.M.

D. Normal Probability Distribution

10. Determine Zα/2, and locate its value on a graph of the standard normal distribution ,for each of
the following values of α:

a. .01 b. .02 c. .10

11. If X is normal random variable with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 8, how many
standard deviation away from the mean is each of the following values of x?

a. X = 52 d. X = 64
b. X = 40 e. X = 32
c. X = 35 f. X = 37

IV. Corrected Exercise

The time required to assemble an electronic component is normally distributed with a mean of
12minutes and a standard deviation of 1.5 minutes. Find the probability that a particular assembly
takes:

a. more than 14 minutes

b. more than 8 minutes
c. less than 14 minutes
d. less than 10 minutes
e. between 10 and 15 minutes

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12. A firm's marketing manager believes that total sales for the firm next year can be modeled by
using a normal distribution with a mean of $2.5 million and a standard deviation of $ 300,000.

a. What is the probability that the firm's sales will exceed $3 million?
b. What is the probability that the firm's sales will fall within $150,000 of the expected level of
sales?
c. In order to cover fixed costs, the firm's sales must exceed the break-even level for $1.8 million.
What is the probability that sales will exceed the break-even level?
d. Determine the sales level that has only a 9% chance of being exceeded next year.

13. A steel fabricator produces pipes with a diameter that is approximately normally distributed
with a mean of 10cm and a variance of .01 cm2.

a. Suppose that the tolerance limit for these pipes is .2 cm, so that pipes with a diameter falling
within the interval 10 + .2 cm are acceptable. What proportion of the pipes produced will be
acceptable.
b. Suppose that pipes with too small a diameter can be reworked, but pipes with too large a
diameter must be scrapped. Suppose also that the tolerance has been reduced to .1 cm. what
proportion of the pipes must be scrapped?

E. Sampling Distribution

14. A sample of n =100 observations is drawn from a normal population, with µ=1,000 and σ=200.
Find the following probabilities.

a. P( x > 1,050)
b. P( x < 960)
c. P( x > 1,100)

15. Given a large population whose mean is 1,000 and whose standard deviation is 200,find the
probability that a random sample of 400 has a mean that lies between 995 and 1,020.

16. An automatic machine in a manufacturing process is operating properly if the length of an

important sub-component are normally distributed, with mean µ=117 cm and standard deviation
σ = 2.1 cm.

a. Find the probability that one randomly selected unit has a length greater than 120 cm.
b. Find the probability that, if three units are randomly selected, all three have lengths exceeding
120 cm.
Find the probability that, if three units are randomly selected, their mean length exceeds 120 cm.

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 Answer Key

1. a. 2.0;1.0 b. yes

2. a. 15.75;33.1875 b. 63,531

3. a. .1488 b. .2461 c. 3151

4. a. .0512 b. .3241 c. .3241

5. a. 0.127 b. 0.131 c. 0.147 d. 0.688 e. 0 f. 0.046

6. a. 0.015 b. 0.558 c.0.594

7. a. .758 b. .028 c. .713 d. .456

8. a. .050 b. .577 c. .146

9. a. .968 b. .027 c. .006

10. a. 2.575 b. 2.33 c. 1.645

11. a. 0.25 b. -1.25 c. -1.875 d. 1.75 e. -2.25 f. -1.625

12. a. .0475 b. .3830c. .9901 d. $2,902,000

13. a. .9544 b. .1587

14. a. .0062 b. .0228 c. 0

15. .6687

16. a. 0.0764 b. (0.0764) 3 = 0.00045 c. 0.5-0.4933 = 0.00067

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 Corrected Exercises
I.
a. p(x)

.5

.4

.3

.2

.1

x
0 1 2 3 4 5

b. The distribution is positively skewed (skewed to the right).

c. The most likely number of children in a family is 0,which occurs with probability 0.5.
d. P (X > 2)=p (X > 3)=. 10.

II. Let x be the number of correct answers for n=15 questions, with p=. 2.
a. P (X > 7)=1-P (X < 6)=1-. 982=. 018.
b. The expected number of correct answers is E (X)=np=15(.2)=3.

III. Let X denote the number of calls in a day, with µ =10/5=2. From table 4,
P (X=5)=P (X < 5)-P ( X < 4)
=. 983-. 947
= 0.036.

IV. Let X be the time required to assemble a component, where µ=12 and σ=1.5.

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  14 − 12 
a. P(X > 14) = P  z > 
 1.5 
=P (Z>1.35)
=. 5 - P (0 < Z < 1.33)
=. 5 - .4082
=. 0918

 8 − 12 
b. P(X>8)=P  z > 
 1.5 
=. 5 - P (0 < Z < 2.67)
=. 5 + .4962
=. 9962

c. P(X<14) = 1 - P(Z > 14)

= 1 - .0918 (from part (a))
= 0.9082.

 10 − 12 
d. P(X < 10)=P  z > 
 1.5 
=P (Z < - 1.33)
=P (Z>1.33)
= 0.0918 (from part (a))

e. P(10 < X < 15)

 10 − 12 15 − 12 
=P  <Z < 
 1.5 1.5 
=P(-1.33 < Z < 2)
=P (0 < Z < 2)+P (0 < Z < 1.33)
=. 4772 +. 4082
= 0.8854

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