De La Salle University – Dasmariñas

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND COMPUTER STUDIES

MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT
City of Dasmariñas, Cavite

SMATH311LC - MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

1st Semester / Midterm Period / S.Y. 2020-2021

ENABLING ASSESSMENT 3b
PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION
Score:
NAME: __________________________________ DATE: ____________________

COURSE/YEAR & SECTION: __________________ PROF.: ____________________

Read, understand and solve each item carefully. Show your complete solution on the answer sheet column.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS

1. A trading company uses six computers to trade on 1.

the Orlando Stock Exchange. The probability of a
computer failing in a day is 0.321, and the
computers fail independently. Computers are
repaired in the evening, and each day is an
independent trial. What is the probability that all six
computers fail in a day?

2. Military radar and missile detection systems are 2a.

designed to warn a country of enemy attacks. A
reliability question deals with the ability of the
detection system to identify an attack and issue the
warning. Assume that a particular detection system
has a 0.90 probability of detecting a missile attack.

a. If two detection systems are installed in the 2b.

same area and operate independently, what is the
probability that at least one of the systems will
detect the attack?

b. If three systems are installed, what is the

probability that at least one of the systems will 2c.
detect the attack?

c. Would you recommend that multiple detection

systems be operated? Explain

3a.

3. The number of telephone calls that arrive at a

phone exchange is often modelled as a Poisson
random variable. Assume that on the average there
are 7 calls per hour.
3b.
a. What is the probability that there are exactly
2 calls in one hour?

b. What is the probability that there are four or

fewer calls in one hour?
3c.
c. What is the probability that there are exactly 26
calls in two hours?
4. Customers are known to arrive at La Buena Comida 4.
on a random basis with an average number of 24
customers per hour. What is the probability that 3
or less customers will arrive for a particular 10-
minute interval?

5. Sick-leave time used by employees of a firm in one 5.

month approximates a normal distribution with a
mean of 179 hours and a variance of 225. Find the
probability that the total sick leave for next month
will be less than 202.85 hours.

6. General Hospital’s patient account division has 6a.

compiled data on the age of accounts receivable.
The data collected indicate that the age of the
accounts follows a normal distribution with µ = 28
days and  = 8 days.

a. What portion of the accounts is between 20 and 40

6b.
days old?

b. The hospital administrator is interested in sending

reminder letters to the oldest 15% of accounts. How
many days old should an account be before a
reminder letter is sent?
6c.
c. The hospital administrator wants to give a discount
to those accounts that pay their balance by the
twenty-first day. What percentage of the accounts
will receive the discount?

7. Sparagowski & Associates conducted a study of 7a.

service times at the drive-up window of fast-food
restaurants. The average time between placing an
order and receiving the order at McDonald’s
restaurants was 2.78 minutes (The Cincinnati
Enquirer, July 9, 2000). Waiting times, such as
these, frequently follow an exponential
7b.
distribution.

a. What is the probability that a customer’s service

time is less than 2 minutes?

b. What is the probability that a customer’s service

time is more than 5 minutes?

8. To boost holiday sales, a jewelry store in Bismarck, 8.

North Dakota, is advertising the following
promotion: “If more than seven inches of
cumulative snow fall on December 24, 25, 26, 27,
and 28, you get your money back on all purchase
made on December 17.” To analyze this promotion,
the store manager has collected data and
determined that snowfall over this 5-day period in
December is normally distributed with an average
of 6 inches and standard deviation of 0.559 inches.
What is the probability that the store will have to
refund the money to its December 17 customers?