Chapter 7 (Day 1)

1. Uniform Probability Distribution P( x ) = 1 ba if a x b and 0 elsewhere

2.

Mean of the Uniform Distribution

a+b 2

3.

Standard Deviation of the Uniform Distribution

( ba )2
12

Example 1 According to the insurance Institute of America, a family of four spends between $400 and $3,800 per year on all types of insurance. Suppose the money spent is uniformly distributed between these amounts.

a.

What is the mean amount spent on insurance?

b.

What is the standard deviation of the amount spent?

c.

If we select a family at random, what is the probability they spend less than $2,000 per year on insurance per year?

d.

What is the probability a family spend more than $3,000 per year?

Example 2 Suppose that an airline quotes a flight time of 2 hours, 10 minutes between two cities. Furthermore, suppose that historical flight records indicate that the actual flight time between the two cities, x, is uniformly distributed between 2 hours and 2 hours, 20 minutes. Let the time unit be one minute.

a.

What is the probability a randomly selected fight lasts between 125 min and 135 min. inclusive.

b.

Find the probability that a randomly selected flight between the two cities will be at least five minutes late.

4.

Normal Probability Distribution

a. b. c. d.

It is bell-shaped and has a single peak at the center of the distribution. It is symmetrical about the mean. It falls off smoothly in either direction form the central value. The location of a normal distribution is determined by the mean, . The dispersion or spread of the distribution is determined by the standard deviation, .