MATH 1101: Finite Mathematics A4-1

Assignment 4
This assignment is based on the material in Unit 5. It is marked out of a total of 79 and is
worth 10% of your final grade.
Read the “General Instructions” before completing this assignment.
Be sure to identify the quantity you are calculating in each problem, either by the use of
an appropriate symbolism or by a written statement.

1. A survey was conducted to determine, on average, how long patients have to wait to see
a doctor. The number of patients that ended up waiting up to
2 hours to see a doctor, recorded in 10-minute intervals, is given in the table below.

Waiting Time
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
in minutes

Frequency of
1 4 15 20 35 42 28 19 13 5 2 1
Occurrence

a) Define and name the random variable associated with this data. (2 marks)
b) Find the probability distribution for the random variable and draw the
corresponding histogram. Express all probabilities as a fraction in lowest terms.
(8 marks)
c) What is the probability that a patient had to wait between 20 and 50 minutes?
(2 marks)
d) What is the expected number of minutes a patient must wait? Give an exact answer.
(2 marks)
e) Calculate the standard deviation for this distribution. Explain what it means
in the context of this problem. (3 marks)

2. The odds that the Pittsburgh Penguins will win the Stanley Cup in 2014 are
13 to 2.
a) Based upon these odds, what is the exact probability that the Penguins will not win
the Stanley Cup in 2014? (3 marks)
b) What is the exact probability that the Penguins will win the Stanley Cup in both 2014
and 2015? What assumption do you need to make to do this calculation?
(4 marks)

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A4-2 Assignment 4

3. 95% of the radios produced by a company are known to have no defects. Three radios
are tested at random and the number of defective radios is recorded.
a) Define and name the random variable in this problem. (1 mark)
b) Find the probability distribution for this random variable. Express all probabilities
correctly rounded to 4 decimal places. (5 marks)
c) What is the expected number of non-defective radios? (3 marks)
d) Determine the probability of at most 2 defective radios. (3 marks)

4. The weekly wages of steel workers at a steel plant are normally distributed with a mean
weekly wage of $940 and a standard deviation of $85. There are 1540 steel workers at
this plant.
a) What is the probability that a randomly selected steel worker has a weekly wage
i) Of more than $850? (4 marks)
ii) Between $910 and $960? (4 marks)
b) What percentage of steel workers have a weekly wage of at most $820?
(4 marks)
c) Determine the total number of steel workers with a weekly wage within one
standard deviation of the mean. (4 marks)
d) Find the lowest and highest weekly wages for the middle 70% of the wage scale.
(6 marks)

5. An oil company claims that 45% of the people buying gasoline in a particular city buy
from their company. A random sample of 400 gasoline purchases in this city is collected.
If the company’s claim is correct, find the probability that
a) More than 160, but at most 190 people in the sample purchased gasoline from this
company. (6 marks)
b) Fewer than 200 people in the sample purchased gasoline from this company.
(4 marks)
a) At least 150 people in the sample purchased gasoline from this company.
(4 marks)
MATH 1101: Finite Mathematics A4-3

6. The following weights in kilograms were recorded for a hockey team:

73 75 76 77 78 86 81 75 100 92 82 73 85 79
84 92 80 78 77 81 83 74 80 69 92 79 72 76
a) Find the mean, mode, and median weights. (5 marks)
b) Which of these three measures of central tendency is the least representative of the
set of weights? Why? (2 marks)

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