Chapter 7 – Continuous Distribution

Student:
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1. The probability that a rental car will be stolen is 0.001. If 25,000 cars are rented from Hertz,
what is the normal approximation to the probability that fewer than 20 will be stolen?
A. .2577
B. .1355
C. .1128
D. .8335

2. If the mean time between unscheduled maintenance of LCD displays in a hospital's CT scan
facility is 4,000 operating hours, what is the probability of unscheduled maintenance in the next
5,000 hours?
A. .8000
B. .7135
C. .2865
D. .5000

3. A random variable X is best described by a continuous uniform distribution from 20 to 45

inclusive. The mean of this distribution is
A. 30.5
B. 31.5
C. 32.5
D. 33.5

4. A company employs 300 employees. Each year, there is a 30% turnover rate for employees.
We want to do a normal approximation to the binomial distribution of the number of employees
who leave each year. For this normal approximation, the mean is ______ and the standard
deviation is _____.
A. 90, 63
B. 90, 7.937
C. 90, 30
D. 90, 15

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5. Assume that X is normally distributed with a mean µ = $64. Given that P (X  $75) = 0.2981,
we can calculate that the standard deviation of X is approximately
A. $20.76
B. $13.17
C. $5.83
D. $7.05

6. If GMAT scores for applicants at Oxnard Graduate School of Business are N (500, 50) then
the top 5 percent of the applicants would have a score of at least (choose the nearest integer)
A. 575
B. 582
C. 601
D. 608

7. To convert a normally distributed variable X into a standard Z score we would

A. subtract the mean from the original observation and divide the result by the variance.
B. subtract the mean from the original observation and divide the result by the standard
deviation.
C. add the mean and the original observation, then divide by the variance.
D. subtract the mean from the standard deviation and divide by the variance.

8. The lengths of brook trout caught in a certain Colorado stream are normally distributed with a
mean of 14 inches and a standard deviation of 3 inches. What lower limit should the State Game
Commission set on length, if it is desired that 80% of the catch may be kept by fisherpersons?
A. 12.80 inches
B. 11.48 inches
C. 12.00 inches
D. 9.22 inches

9. A certain assembly line at Vexing Manufacturing Company averages 30 minutes between

breakdowns. The median time between breakdowns is
A. 30.0 minutes.
B. 35.7 minutes.
C. 25.4 minutes.
D. 20.8 minutes.

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10. In Melanie's Styling Salon, the time to complete a simple haircut is normally distributed with
a mean of 25 minutes and a standard deviation of 4 minutes. For a simple haircut, the middle 90
percent of the customers will require
A. between 18.4 and 31.6 minutes.
B. between 19.9 and 30.1 minutes.
C. between 20.0 and 30.0 minutes.
D. between 17.2 and 32.8 minutes.

11. Regarding continuous probability distributions, which statement is incorrect?

A. The triangular distribution may be skewed left or right.
B. The uniform distribution is never skewed.
C. The normal distribution is sometimes skewed.
D. The exponential distribution is always skewed right.

12. If the random variable Z has a standard normal distribution, then P (1.17  Z  2.26) is
A. 0.1091
B. 0.1203
C. 0.2118
D. 0.3944

13. A random variable X is best described by a continuous uniform distribution from 20 to 45

inclusive. The standard deviation of this distribution is approximately
A. 52.1
B. 32.5
C. 6.85
D. 7.22

14. The lengths of brook trout caught in a certain Colorado stream are normally distributed with
a mean of 14 inches and a standard deviation of 3 inches. What proportion of brook trout caught
will be between 12 and 18 inches in length?
A. .6563
B. .6826
C. .2486
D. .4082

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15. Excel's = RAND () function produces random numbers that are uniformly distributed from 0
to 1. What is the probability that the random number exceeds .75?
A. 75%
B. 50%
C. 25%

16. The Excel function = 800*RAND () would generate random numbers with standard deviation
approximately equal to
A. 200
B. 188
C. 231
D. 400

17. A random variable X is best described by a continuous uniform distribution from 20 to 45

inclusive. What is P (30  X  40)?
A. .20
B. .40
C. .60
D. .80

18. A certain assembly line at Vexing Manufacturing Company averages 30 minutes between
breakdowns. What is the probability that less than 6 minutes will elapse before the next
breakdown?
A. .8187
B. .0488
C. .1813
D. .2224

19. What is the mean and standard deviation for the standard normal distribution?
A. µ = 0,  = 0
B. µ = 1,  = 1
C. µ = 1,  = 0
D. µ = 0,  = 1

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20. The lengths of brook trout caught in a certain Colorado stream are normally distributed with
a mean of 14 inches and a standard deviation of 3 inches. The first quartile for the lengths of
brook trout would be
A. 16.01 inches.
B. 11.00 inches.
C. 11.98 inches.
D. 10.65 inches.

21. If the random variable Z has a standard normal distribution, then P (1.25  Z  2.17) is
A. 0.0906
B. 0.9200
C. 0.4700
D. 0.3944

22. A large number of applicants for admission to graduate study in business are given an
aptitude test. Scores are normally distributed with a mean of 460 and standard deviation of 80.
The top 2.5 percent of the applicants would have a score of at least (choose the nearest integer)
A. 606
B. 617
C. 600
D. 646

23. Exam scores were normal in BIO 200. Jason's exam score was one standard deviation above
the mean. What percentile is he in?
A. 68th.
B. 75th.
C. 78th.
D. 84th.

24. The probability is .80 that a standard normal random variable is between - z and + z. The
value of z is approximately
A. 1.28
B. 1.35
C. 1.96
D. 1.45

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25. Which model best describes your waiting time until you get the next non-working web URL
("This page cannot be displayed") as you click on various web sites for Florida condo rentals?
A. Poisson.
B. Uniform.
C. Normal.
D. Exponential.

26. If the random variable Z has a standard normal distribution, then P (Z  - 1.72) is
A. 0.9573
B. 0.0446
C. 0.5016
D. 0.0427

27. A large number of applicants for admission to graduate study in business are given an
aptitude test. Scores are normally distributed with a mean of 460 and standard deviation of 80.
What fraction of the applicants would you expect to have a score of 400 or above?
A. 0.2734
B. 0.7734
C. 0.7266
D. 0.7500

28. A machine dispenses water into a glass. Assuming that the amount of water dispensed
follows a continuous uniform distribution from 10 ounces to 16 ounces, what is the probability
that 13 or more ounces will be dispensed in a given glass?
A. .1666
B. .3333
C. .5000
D. .6666

29. The triangular distribution T (10, 20, 50) has a standard deviation of
A. 9.498
B. 9.225
C. 8.498
D. 7.710

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30. If arrivals occur at a mean rate of 1.6 events per minute, the exponential probability of
waiting less than 1 minute for the next arrival is
A. .2019
B. .7104
C. .8812
D. .7981

31. A software developer makes 175 phone calls to its current customers. There is an 8 percent
chance of reaching a given customer (instead of a busy signal, no answer, or answering
machine). The normal approximation of the probability of reaching at least 20 customers is
A. .022
B. .007
C. .063
D. .937

32. Light bulbs are normally distributed with a lifetime of 1000 hours and a standard deviation of
250 hours. The probability that a light bulb picked at random will last less than 1500 hours is
about
A. 97.72%
B. 95.44%
C. 75.00%
D. 68.00%

33. Excel's = 100*RAND () function produces continuous random numbers that are uniformly
distributed between 0 and 100. The standard deviation of this distribution is approximately
A. 50.00
B. 28.87
C. 33.33
D. 25.00

34. In a continuous distribution

A. the PDF is usually higher than the CDF.
B. the CDF is used to find left-tail probabilities.
C. the PDF shows the area under the curve.
D. The CDF is usually the same as the PDF.

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35. A large number of applicants for admission to graduate study in business are given an
aptitude test. Scores are normally distributed with a mean of 460 and standard deviation of 80.
What fraction of applicants would you expect to have scores of 600 or above?
A. 0.0401
B. 0.4599
C. 0.5401
D. 0.0852

36. A machine dispenses water into a glass. Assuming that the amount of water dispensed
follows a continuous uniform distribution from 10 ounces to 16 ounces, the standard deviation of
the amount of water dispensed is about
A. 1.73 ounces.
B. 3.00 ounces.
C. 0.57 ounces.
D. 3.51 ounces.

37. A student's grade on an examination was transformed to a z value of 0.67. Assuming a

normal distribution, we know that she scored approximately in the top
A. 15%.
B. 50%.
C. 40%.
D. 25%.

38. The time required for a citizen to complete the 2000 U.S. Census "long" form is normally
distributed with a mean of 40 minutes and a standard deviation of 10 minutes. The slowest 10%
of the citizens would need at least how many minutes to complete the form?
A. 27.2
B. 35.8
C. 52.8
D. 59.6

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39. A multiple choice exam has 100 questions. Each question has five choices. What would be
the approximate probability that a "guesser" could achieve a score of 30 or more?
A. 0.0088
B. 0.0062
C. 0.0015
D. 0.4913

40. The area under the normal curve between the 20th and 70th percentile is equal to
A. 0.7000
B. 0.5000
C. 0.9193