DS Tutorial 3

1. Identify the type of distribution

a) Outcomes of a dice thrown

b) A university found that 20% of its students withdraw without completing the introductory
statistics course. Distribution of the sample of students selected

c) Based on NSC estimates, companies with 50 employees are expected to average three
employee off-the-job accidents per year. Distribution of accidents

d) Phone calls arrive at the rate of 48 per hour at the reservation desk for Regional Airways.
Distribution of phone calls

e) Airline passengers arrive randomly and independently at the passenger-screening facility

at a major international airport. The mean arrival rate is 10 passengers per minute.
Distribution of passenger arrival rate

f) Suppose there is a disease, whose average incidence is 2 per million people. What is the
probability that a city of 1 million people has at least twice the average incidence?

g) A shipment of 10 items has two defective and eight non-defective items. In the inspection
of the shipment, a sample of items will be selected and tested. Distribution of sample

h) According to a University of California–Irvine study, businesspeople are interrupted at

the rate of approximately 5.5 times per hour (Fortune, March 20, 2006).

i) The Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey shows 28% of individuals, ages 25 and
older, have completed four years of college. What is the probability that out of a sample
of 500 individuals taken, 300 have completed college?

j) Births in a hospital occur randomly at an average rate of 1.8 births per hour. What is the
probability of observing 4 births in a given hour at the hospital?

k) The number of days ahead travelers purchase their airline tickets averages 15 days. Find
the probability that a traveler will purchase a ticket fewer than ten days in advance. How
many days do half of all travelers wait?
2. An office has two clerks, and three people, A, B and C, enter simultaneously. A and B
begin service at the two clerks, while C waits for the first available clerk. Assume that
each service time is iid Exponential with mean 10 minutes.
a. Compute the probability that A is the last to finish the service.
b. Compute the expected time before C is done (i.e., C’s combined waiting and service
time).

3. In hospital A births occur randomly at an average rate of 2.3 births per hour in hospital B
births occur randomly at an average rate of 3.1 births per hour What is the probability that
we observe 7 births in total from the two hospitals in a given 1 hour period?

4. A part requires replacement on average once every 6000 hours of continuous service.
After what time will 90% of parts need to be replaced. Assume that service life follows
exponential distribution. What is the probability of 2 service requests in 3 years?

5. Production of a cable wire produces 25 imperfections in 10 meters.

a) What is the probability that there are less than 3 imperfections in a 2 meter long cable?
b) What is the probability that two consecutive imperfections are 1 meter apart?
c) You are checking the cable for imperfections as it comes out. You don't see any
imperfections in the first 0.5 meters. What is the probability that there is no imperfection
in the next 0.5 meters produced?

Additional Book Problems: 5.56, 6.38, 6.46,6.48