#1/MA225/Quiz-1/2016f

L1/L2/Sep. 11/p. 1 of 2

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Name:
.............................

Instructions: Show all steps. Each question is worth 2 12 marks. Answer all questions in designated space
or over the extra pages towards the end of the booklet. Use supplementary sheets ONLY for rough work.
1. For a natural number n, let S = {1, 2, . . . , n}. Two subsets A and B of S are randomly and independently picked and are each equally likely to be any of the 2n subsets. What is the probability that
A B is S?
{Hint: Can you find P (A B = S|B has i elements) for i such that 0 i n?}
Soln.: Approach 1. Given that A and B are two randomly and independently chosen subsets of
S = {1, 2, . . . , n}.
Let E the event that A B = S,
Bi the event that B has i elements, 0 i n.
Obviously, Bi s (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) are mutually exclusive and exhaustive events.
Using the law of total probability, we have
P (E) =

n
X

P (E|Bi )P (Bi ).

i=0

................................................................................


(n)
There are 2n subsets of S, of which ni have size i and so P (Bi ) = 2in .
.................................................................................
If B has i elements, then for satisfying A B = S, A must contain all the remaining (n i) elements
of S and also may or may not contain the elements of any subset of B. The number of subsets of B
i
is 2i . Then P (E|Bi ) = 22n .
..........................................................................
Thus
n  
n
n

X
1 X n i
2i i
= n
2.
P (E) =
i
2n 2n
4
i=0

i=0

..........................................................................
1
Therefore, P (A B = S) = n (1 + 2)n =
2

 n
3
, using binomial theorem.
4

Marking Scheme for Approach 1: Marks 0.5 is given for each partition.
Approach 2. Given that A and B are two randomly and independently chosen subsets of S =
{1, 2, . . . , n}. Let i be any element of S and also let
E1 the event that i A and i
/ B,
E2 the event that i B and i
/ A,
E3 the event that i A B,
E4 the event that i
/ A B.
...................................................................
Ej s (j = 1, 2, 3, 4) are mutually exclusive and exhaustive events.
So, P (i A B) = P (E1 E2 E3 ) = 34 .
...................................................................
There are n elements in S and so for satisfying A B = S, all n elements of S must belong to A B.
Thus P (A B = S) = ( 43 )n .
Marking Scheme for Approach 2: Mark 1 is given for 1st partition, marks 0.5 for 2nd partition
and mark 1 for 3rd partition.
NOTE. Any other approach with proper justification should be acceptable.

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#1/MA225/Quiz-1/2016f
L1/L2/Sep. 11/p. 2 of 2

2. If Y is a continuous random variable, prove:

Z
Z
P (Y > y) dy
E(Y ) =
0

P (Y < y) dy.
0

Soln.: dipankar will write here

I1 =

P (Y > y)

fY (x)dxdy
Z
Z x
=
fY (x)
dxdy (Change of order)
0
Z0
xfY (x)1 marks 1 marks
=
=

I2 =

Z y

P (Y < y)

=
=
=
=

Z 0

Z 0

Z 0

Z x

fY (x)dxdy
fY (x)dxdy (Change of order)

fY (x)

dxdy
0

fY (x)(x)dx
()xfY (x)dx

1 marks

R
R 0
R0
R
I1 I2 = 0 xfY (x) ()xfY (x)dxdy = xfY (x) + 0 xfY (x)dxdy
R
= xfY (x)dxdy = E(Y )
0.5 marks