B. M. S.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, BANGALORE-560 019

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
Fourth Semester B.E. Course-(AS/ME/ECE/ETE/EIE)
Course Title: Complex Analysis, Probability and Statistical Methods
Course Code: 23MA4BSCPS
UNIT 4: PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS
POISSON DISTRIBUTION

1. Derive an expression fore expectation and variance of Poisson distribution.

2. The number of accidents per day (x) as recorded in a textile industry over a period of 400 days
is given. Fit a Poisson distribution for the data and calculate the theoretical frequencies.
x 0 1 2 3 4 5

f 173 168 37 18 3 1

3. Fit a Poisson distribution for the following frequency distribution.

x 0 1 2 3 4
f 122 60 15 2 1
4. The frequency of accidents per shift in a factory is as shown in the following table:
Accidents per shifts 0 1 2 3 4
Frequency 180 92 24 3 1
Calculate the mean number of accidents per shifts and the corresponding Poisson distribution
and compare with actual observations.
5. Fit a Poisson distribution for the following data and calculate the theoretical frequencies
x 0 1 2 3 4

f 111 63 22 3 1

6. In a certain factory turning out razors blades, there is a small chance of 0.002 for any blade to
be defective. The blades are supplied in packets of 10. Use Poisson distribution to calculate
the approximate number of packets containing (i) no defective (ii) one defective and (iii) two
defective blades respectively in a consignment of 10,000 packets.
7. The number of accidents in a year to taxi in a city follows a Poisson distribution with mean 3.
Out of 1000 taxi drivers find approximately the number of the drivers with
(i) No accident in a year
(ii) More than 3 accidents in a year.
8. 2% of the fuses manufactured by a firm are found to be defective. Find the probability that a
box containing 200 fuses contains
(i) No defective fuses
(ii) 3 or more defective fuses.
9. If the probability of a bad reaction from a certain injection is 0.001, determine the chance that
out of 2000 individuals,
(i) Exactly 3
(ii) More than 2 will suffer a bad reaction
10. A communication channel receives independent pulses at the rate of 12 pulses per micro
second. The probability of transmission error is 0.001 for each micro second. Compute the
probabilities of

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Dept. of Mathematics, BMSCE UNIT 4: PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS
(i) no error during a micro second
(ii) one error per micro second
(iii) atleast one error per micro second
(iv) two errors
(v) atmost two errors.
11. A switch board can handle only 4 telephone calls per minute. If the incoming calls per minute
follow a Poisson distribution with parameter 3, find the probability that the switch board is
over taxed in any one minute.
2
12. If X is a Poisson variate and it is found that the probability that P ( X = 2 ) = P ( X = 1) . Find
3
the probability that X=0 and the probability that X=3. What is the probability that X exceeds
3?
13. A car hire firm has two cars which it hires out day by day. The number of demands for a car
on each day is distributed as a Poisson distribution with mean 1.5.calculate the proportion on
a particular day
(i) there is no demand
(ii) demand is refused.
14. A shop has 4 diesel generator sets which it hires every day. The demand for a gen set on an
average is a Poisson variate with value 5/2. Obtain the probability that on a particular day
(i) There was no demand
(ii) A demand is refused.
15. A source of liquid is known to contain bacteria with the mean number of bacteria per cubic
centimeter equal to 3.ten 1cc test tubes are filled with the liquid. Assuming that Poisson
distribution is applicable, calculate the probability that all the test tubes will show growth i.e.
contain at least 1 bacterium each.

NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
1. In a test on 2000 electric bulbs, it was found that the life of a particular make, was normally
distributed with an average life of 2040 hours and S.D of 60 hours. estimate the number of
bulbs likely to burn for a) more than 2150 hours, b) less than 1950 hours c) more than
1920 hours and but less than 2160 hours.
2. In a normal distribution, 31% of the items are under 45 and 8% are over 64. Find the mean
and S.D. of the distribution.
3. In a certain examination, the percentage of candidates passing and getting distinctions were
45 and 9 respectively. Estimate the average marks obtained by the candidates, the minimum
pass and distinction marks being 40 and 75 respectively.
4. A manufacturer of air-mail envelopes knows from experience that weight of the envelopes
is normally distributed with mean 1.95 gm and S.D. 0.05 gm. About how many envelopes
weighting (i) 2 gm or more (ii) 2.05 gm or more can be expected in a given packet of 100
envelopes.
5. The mean height of 500 students is 151 cm and the S.D. is 15 cm. assuming that the heights
are normally distributed , find how many student’s heights lie between 120 and 155 cm.

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Dept. of Mathematics, BMSCE UNIT 4: PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS
6. The mean and S.D. of the marks obtained by 1000 students in an examination are respectively
34.4 and 16.5. Assuming the normality of the distribution, find the approximate number of
students expected to obtain marks between 30 and 60.
7. In a examination taken by 500 candidates, the average and S.D. of marks obtained (normally
distributed) are 40% and 10%. Find approximately (i) how many will pass, if 50% is fixed
as a minimum? (ii)What should be the minimum% of marks if 350 candidates are to pass?
(iii) How many have scored marks above 60%?
8. The mean inside diameter of a sample of 200 washers produced by a machine is 5.02 mm
and the S.D. is 0.05 mm. the purpose for which these washers are intended allows a maximum
tolerance in the diameter of 4.96 to 5.08 mm, otherwise the washers are considered defective.
Determine the percentage of defective washers produced by the machine, assuming the
diameters are normally distributed.
9. It is given that the age of thermostats of a particular makes follow the normal law with mean
5 years and S.D. 2 years. 1000 units are sold out every year. How many of them will have to
be replaced at the end of the second year.
10. The diameter of an electric cable is normally distributed with a mean 0.8 and standard
deviation 0.02. What is the probability that the diameter will exceed 0.81? If a cable is
considered defective, if the diameter differs from the mean by more than 0.025, what is the
probability that a cable is defective?

Joint Probability Distribution:

1. Determine (a) marginal distributions of x and y (b) cov(x,y) for the following distribution.
(c) Are x and y independent random variables?

y -4 2 7
x
1 1 1 1
8 4 8

5 1 1 1
4 8 8

2. Find the joint distribution of x and y, which are independent random variables with the
following respective distributions.

xi : 1 2 yj : -2 5 8
and
f ( xi ) : 0.7 0.3 g ( y j ): 0.3 0.5 0.2

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Dept. of Mathematics, BMSCE UNIT 4: PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS
3. If x and y are independent random variables, find the joint distribution of x and y with the
following marginal distribution of x and y. Also find  ( x, y)

xi : 1 2 yj : 5 10 15
and
f ( xi ) : 0.6 0.4 g ( y j ): 0.2 0.5 0.3

4. Determine (a) marginal distributions of x and y (b) cov(x,y) (c)  ( x, y) for the following joint
distribution (d) determine whether x and y are independent.

y -3 2 4
x
1 0.1 0.2 0.2

3 0.3 0.1 0.1

5. Given the joint distribution:

x 0 1 2
y
0 0.1 0.4 0.1

1 0.2 0.2 0

Determine the marginal distributions of x and y and  ( x, y) .

6. Find the marginal distributions of x and y and find p ( y = 3, x = 2 ) , if the joint distribution is:
x 1 2 3
y
1 0.05 0.05 0.1

2 0.05 0.1 0.35

3 0 0.2 0.1

7. The joint probability function of two random variables X and Y is given by

f ( x, y ) = c ( 2 x + y ) where x and y can assume all integral values such that 0  x  2 ,
0  y  3 , and f ( x, y ) = 0 otherwise. Find i) the value of the constant c , ii)
P ( X  1, Y  2 ) iii) Marginal Probability distribution of X and Y . Check whether X and Y
are independent.

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Dept. of Mathematics, BMSCE UNIT 4: PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS
8. A coin is tossed three times. Let X denote 0 or 1 according as tail or head occurs on the
first toss. Let Y denote the total number of tails which occur. Determine i) the marginal
distributions of X and Y , and ii) the joint distributions of X and Y . Also find the expected
values of X + Y and XY .

9. If X and Y are independent random variables, X takes values 2, 5, 7 with probability 1/2,
1/4, 1/4 respectively and Y takes values 3, 4, 5 with probability 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 respectively.
i) Find the joint probability distribution of X and Y .
(ii) Show that the covariance of X and Y is equal to zero.

10. Two fruits are selected at random from a bag containing 3 Apples, 2 Oranges and 4
Mangoes. If X and Y are respectively, the number of Apples and the number of Oranges
included among the two fruits drawn from the bag, find the probability associated with all
possible pair of values ( x, y ) . Also find the correlation between the variables X and Y .

11. Two cards are selected at random with replacement from a box which contains 5 cards
numbered 1,1,2,2 and 3. Find the joint probability distribution of X and Y where X denotes
the sum and Y denotes the maximum of the two numbers. Determine the covariance of X
and Y .

12. Two marbles are selected at random from a box containing 3 blue, 2 red and 3 green
marbles. If X is the number of blue marbles and Y is the number of red marbles selected
then find joint probability distribution of X and Y. Determine the marginal distributions of
X and Y.

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