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Problem SET 1

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15 views3 pages

Problem SET 1

Problem

Uploaded by

archi Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Problem-set-I: Probability and Statistics

CHM322: Dr. Arnab Ghosh

January 13, 2025

1. Using Stirling formula, estimate the magnitude of x: 1023 ! ≈ 10x .


2. Let the random variable x takes values 0, 1, and 2 with probabilities 12 , 14 ,
and 41 respectively. Calculate hxi, hx2 i, and σx2 .
3. Suppose that there are n independent random variables {Xi }, i = 1, 2, ...n,
2
each with the same mean hXi and variance σX . Let Y = X1 + X2 + ...Xn ,
be the sum of the all the random numbers. Find the mean and variance.
4. Assuming that experimental errors are random in origin, show that if the
error in making a single measurement of a quantity
√ X is ∆, the error
obtained after making n measurements is ∆/ n. This is the reason
why you are advised to repeat experiments multiple times!
2
/a2
5. Consider Gaussian distribution P (x) = Ae−x . Find hxi, hx2 i, and σx2 .
6. Let x be a random variable which takes values 1 for success and 0 for
failure. Assuming p to be the probability of success, calculate hxi, hx2 i,
and σx .
7. Estimate the standard deviation for fair coin tossing with n = 16 and
n = 1020 . Explain the significance of the results.
8. A throw of a regular dice yields the numbers 1, 2, ...6, each with probability
1/6. Find the mean, variance, and standard deviation of the numbers
obtained.
9. The Poisson distribution of a discrete random variable n = 0, 1, 2, ... is
given by
λn e−λ
P (n) =
n!
P∞
Show that hni = n=0 nP (n) = λ.
10. Exponential distribution of a continuous random variable x ≥ 0 dis-
tributed between x and x + dx is given by

P (x)dx = Ae−x/λ dx

1
R∞
(a) Find normalization constant A. (b) Show that hxi = 0
xP (x)dx = λ.
11. Consider a uniform distribution P (θ) of a continuous random variable θ
distributed between 0 ≤ θ ≤ π. Find the values of (i) hθn i for n ≥ 0 (ii)
hcos θi (iii) hsin θi (iv) hcos2 θi (v) hsin2 θi

12. Show that the Binomial distribution reduces to a Poisson distribu-


tion with mean N p when N  1 but the mean N p remains small.
13. ∗ Show that the Binomial distribution reduces to a Gaussian distri-
bution with mean N p and variance N p(1 − p) when N  1 as well as
N p(1 − p)  1.

14. One dimensional random walk is a succession of n Bernoulli trails in


which the choice is either a step forwards +L or a step backwards −L, each
occurs with probability p = 1/2. Find the mean distance, hxi travelled
and mean squared distance, hx2 i travelled.
15. A pair of (distinguishable) dice is tossed once. Each die can give a score
of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. Let s denote the total score of the pair of dice. It is
evident that possible values of s (sample space of s) is a set of integers
from 2 to 12. (a) Write down the set of probabilities {Ps }. What is the
most probable value of s? (b) Find the mean, standard deviation, and
relative fluctuation of s.

16. ∗ Diffusion problem: In the above random walk problem, assume that
the walker takes a step when tine t = nτ , where n being an integer.
Writing D = L2 /2τ , show that when t  τ , the probability of finding a
diffusing particle between x to x + dx is
1 2
P (x)dx = √ e−x /4Dt dx
4πDt

Show that the standard deviation for the diffusion process σx ∝ t1/2 .
Using this estimate the time needed for a molecule to diffuse a distance
about (i) 1µm and (ii) 1 cm, in water. Given the diffusion coefficient of
the molecule in water is D = 10−9 m2 s−1 .
17. ∗ Moment generating function M(t): is an efficient method for calcu-
lating mean (first moment) and variance (second moment) of a probability
distribution. Defining M (t) = hetx i, show that hxn i = M (n) (0), where
M (n) (t) = dn M/dtn . In particular show that σx = M (2) (0) − [M (1) (0)]2 .
Finally, show that (a) for a single Bernoulli trail M (t) = pet + 1 − p (b) for
binomial distribution M (t) = (pet + 1 − p)n (c) for Poisson distribution
t
M (t) = eλ(e −1) (d) for exponential distribution M (t) = λ−t λ
. Check the
mean and variance derived in this method agree with the results obtained
earlier.

2
18. ∗ A colony of 5,000 “red” and 5,000 “green” E. coli is allowed to eat and
reproduce faithfully into red → red+red or green → green+green, with a
reproduction time of 1 hour. Assume that other than the markers “red”
and “green”, there are no differences between them. In order to keep the
colony size down, a predator is introduced which keeps the colony size at
10,000 by eating both bacteria at random. (a) After a very long time,
what is the probability distribution of the number of red bacteria? (b)
What would be the effect of a preference of the predator for eating red
bacteria on (a)?
19. ∗ Consider in every τ seconds, an electron jumps from a atom site to a
nearest-neighbour site (left or right) of an one-dimensional lattice having
lattice constant a. The probability of jump to left and right are p and
q = 1 − p respectively. (a) What is the average position x̄ of the electron
at time t = N τ , for N  1. (b) Calculate the mean-square position
(x − x̄)2 at time t.
20. Consider a large number of N spin-1/2 particles in presence of an external
magnetic field. Find the number of states accessible to the system as a
function of Ms , the z-component of the total spin of the system. Determine
the value of Ms for which the number of accessible states is maximum.
21. ∗ Consider a system of N non-interacting distinguishable particles. Each
particle may exist in one of the two energy states E = 0 and E = ε. (a)
Write down a formula for S(n), where n is the number of particles in the
upper state. Sketch the function S(n). (b) Derive Stirling’s approximation
for large n: ln n! = n ln n − n. (c) Rewrite the result of (a) using the result
of (b). Find the value of n for which S(n) is maximum. (d) Treating
energy as continuous, show that the system can have negative absolute
temperature.
22. What is the Shanon entropy for a Bernoulli trial with probabilities P and
1 − P of the two outcomes?
23. ∗ In a typical microchip, a bit is stored by a 5 fF capacitor using a voltage
of 3V. Calculate the energy stored in eV per bit and compare this with the
minimum heat dissipation by erasure, which is kB T ln 2 per bit, at room
temperature. What is the significance of the above result?
24. ∗ The relative entropy
 
X Pi X
S(P ||Q) = Pi log = Sp − Pi log Qi
i
Qi i

measures
P the closeness of two probability distributions P and Q and Sp =
− i Pi log Pi . Show that (a) S(P ||Q) ≥ 0, with equality iff Pi = Qi ∀ i.
(b) If i takes N values with probabilities Pi , then show that S(P ||Q) =
−Sp + log N , where Qi = 1/N ∀ i. Hence show that Sp ≤ log N , with
equality iff Pi is uniformly distributed between all N outcomes.

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