Assignment 2: Probability Distributions

Instructions
This is a graded and compulsory assignment.

Be concise and precise. Verbosity will be penalized.

Provide reasoning to explain your answers. Answers without reasoning will not receive full marks.

Use a pen. Answers written in pencil will be ignored.

The final grade will be the difference of the following:

 The square of the total number of correct answers.
 The double of the total number of incorrect answers.
For instance, if a student has 7 correct and 3 incorrect answers, the total grade would be 7 2 – 2*3 = 43

Questions
I. The student body of a large university consists of 60% female students. A random sample of 8
students is selected.
1. What is the probability that among the students in the sample exactly two are female?
2. What is the probability that among the students in the sample at least 7 are female?
3. What is the probability that among the students in the sample at least 6 are male?

II. Choose the correct alternative:

1. If you are conducting an experiment where the probability of a success is .02 and you are
interested in the probability of 4 successes in 15 trials, the correct probability function to use is
the
a. standard normal probability density function
b. normal probability density function
c. Poisson probability function
d. binomial probability function

2. In the textile industry, a manufacturer is interested in the number of blemishes or flaws

occurring in each 100 feet of material. The probability distribution that has the greatest chance
of applying to this situation is the
a. normal distribution
b. binomial distribution
c. Poisson distribution
d. uniform distribution

1 September 2010 Basic Statistics and Econometrics

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III. Choose the correct alternative:
1. The Poisson probability distribution is a
a. continuous probability distribution
b. discrete probability distribution
c. uniform probability distribution
d. normal probability distribution

2. The binomial probability distribution is used with

a. a continuous random variable
b. a discrete random variable
c. any distribution, as long as it is not normal
d. None of these alternatives is correct.

IV. The random variable x is the number of occurrences of an event over an interval of ten minutes. It
can be assumed that the probability of an occurrence is the same in any two time periods of an
equal length. It is known that the mean number of occurrences in ten minutes is 5.3.
1. The random variable x satisfies which probability distribution?
2. The expected value of the random variable x is …?
3. The probability that there are 8 occurrences in ten minutes is …?
4. The probability that there are less than 3 occurrences is …?

V. A professor at a local university noted that the grades of her students were normally distributed
with a mean of 73 and a standard deviation of 11.
1. The professor has informed us that 7.93 percent of her students received grades of A. What is
the minimum score needed to receive a grade of A?
2. Students who made 57.93 or lower on the exam failed the course. What percent of students
failed the course?
3. If 69.5 percent of the students received grades of C or better, what is the minimum score of
those who received C’s?

VI. The length of time it takes students to complete a statistics examination is uniformly distributed and
varies between 40 and 60 minutes.
1. Find the mathematical expression for the probability density function.
2. Compute the probability that a student will take between 45 and 50 minutes to complete the
examination.
3. What is the expected amount of time it takes a student to complete the examination?
4. What is the variance for the amount of time it takes a student to complete the examination?

1 September 2010 Basic Statistics and Econometrics

39788082.docx