Tutorial 5: Discrete probability distributions

Part A
This week, Excel should be used as appropriate in completing the Part A questions.
A5.1
Among households in which at least one child is attending a private school, it is found that the total
number of tablets (iPad, Kindle, etc.) owned by members of the household has the following
probability distribution:
Number of tablets 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 or
more
Probability () 0.33 0.25 0.22 0.12 0.07 0.01 0.00
(a) Write down the formulae for the expected value and variance of a discrete random variable.


(b) Set up a table in Excel as follows, and use it to calculate the expected value and standard
deviation o of the number of tablets.
() x ()

0
1
2
3
4
5
Total


( ) ( )
2
x x x P
A5.2
Consider a binomial experiment with 12 trials, which results in X successes. To complete the
following question you may wish to refer to a number line:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
For each phrase in the first column, write down the corresponding inequality or inequalities, and the
list of numbers specified by this phrase. Then write the probability that X satisfies this condition in
terms of cumulative probabilities, i.e. probabilities of the form . As an example, the first
one is completed.
X is at least 7 7 X > 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 1 P( 6) X s
X is at most 7
X is less than 7
X is no more than 3
X is more than 3
X is 9 or more
X is at most 5
X is at least 10
X is at least 3 but less
than 9

X is no less than 8
X is between 4 and 8
(inclusive)

A5.3
Calculating binomial probabilities using both Excel and the binomial tables.
Instructions on how to use the Excel function BINOM.DIST are given in Section E4.3 of the Excel
notes.
(a) In the following, X is the number of successes in n independent trials, where the probability of
success on each trial is p . Calculate the following probabilities:
REMEMBER TO USE NUMBER LINES
REMEMBER TO ALWAYS BEGIN BY RECORDING: X ~ Bin(n = ?, p = ?)
(i) For 4 n = , 0.35 p = find P( 4) X = and P( 2) X s . (Use Excel)

(ii) For 15 n = , 0.6 p = find P( 4) X > and P(5 10) X < s . (Use tables and check your
answers using Excel)

(iii) For 17 n = , 0.4 p = what is the probability that X is at least 12? (Use Excel)

(b) A new drug is found to be effective on 87% of the patients tested. If the drug is administered to
17 patients, find the probability that it is effective for 12 or more of the patients.
( ) x X P s
Part B

B5.5
In each of the following scenarios, state whether X is a binomial random variable. Explain your
answer.
(i) Thirty per cent of households buy the leading brand of dishwasher detergent. A random
sample of 25 households is surveyed to determine the brand of dishwasher detergent
they buy. Let X be the number of households in the sample that buy the leading brand.

B5.6
From experience, a retailer has determined that the number of broken light bulbs, X , in a box
containing 10 dozen Super brand light bulbs has the following probability distribution:
x 0 1 2 3
Probability 0.80 0.10 0.05 0.05

(a) What is the probability that in a randomly selected box of Super light bulbs, there is more
than one broken light bulb?
(b) What is the expected value of X ?
(c) What is the standard deviation of X ?
(d) Suppose that the retailer has just received 15 boxes of Super light bulbs. Let Y be the
number of boxes with no broken light bulbs.
(i) What kind of probability distribution does Y have? State the values of the
parameters.
(ii) What is the probability that there are between 4 and 8 boxes (inclusive) with no
broken light bulbs? Use tables to answer this question.