Exercises II

VU Econometrics and Data Science

Introduction to Data Science Part I
2021 – 2022

Quiz Exercises

Q1. A box contains 24 light bulbs, of which two are defective. If a person selects 10
bulbs at random, without replacement, what is the probability that both defective
bulbs will be selected?

Q2. Consider an experiment in which a fair coin is tossed once and a balanced die is
rolled once. What is the probability that a head will be obtained on the coin and
an odd number will be obtained on the die? (Hint: First, describe the sample space
for this experiment.)

Q3. A total of 28 percent of American males smoke cigarettes, 7 percent smoke cigars,
and 5 percent smoke both cigars and cigarettes. What percentage of males smokes
neither cigars nor cigarettes?

Q4. If five numbers are selected at random from the set {1, 2, 3, . . . , 20}, what is the
probability that their minimum is larger than 5?

Theoretical Exercises

1. Suppose that E and F are two events that belong to the same sample space S.
Prove the following relations:

a. ( E ∩ F ) ⊆ E ⊆ ( E ∪ F ).
b. If E ⊆ F, then F c ⊆ Ec .
c. F = ( F ∩ E) ∪ ( F ∩ Ec ).
d. E ∪ F = E ∪ ( Ec ∩ F ).

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2. For any sequence of events E1 , E2 , . . . , define new sequence F1 , F2 , . . . of disjoint
events (that is, events such that Fi ∩ Fj = ∅ whenever i 6= j) such that for all n ≥ 1.
n
[ n
[
Fi = Ei .
1 1

3. Let E, F and G be three events. Find expressions for the events so that,

a. only E occurs;

b. both E and G, but not F occur;

c. at most one of the events occur;

d. exactly two events occur.

(Hint: Venn diagrams will be useful.)

4. Use Venn diagrams to simplify the expression ( E ∪ F ) ∩ ( E ∪ F c ).

5. Use Venn diagrams to prove De Morgan’s laws for events E and F.

6. If P( E) = 0.9 and P( F ) = 0.8, show that P( E ∩ F ) ≥ 0.7. In general, prove

Bonferroni’s inequality, namely

P( E ∩ F ) ≥ P( E) + P( F ) − 1.

7. Let E, F and G be three events of a sample space S. Prove that

P( E ∪ F ∪ G ) = P( E) + P( F ) + P( G ) − P( E ∩ F ) − P( E ∩ G )
− P ( F ∩ G ) + P ( E ∩ F ∩ G ).

8. Prove that P( E ∩ F c ) = P( E) − P( E ∩ F ).
(Hint: First, try to find an expression how to write the event E in terms of F and F c ,

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 involving a union and intersections. Then, use Proposition 3 of the lecture.)

9. Prove that the event E is impossible if and only if for every event F

F = ( F ∩ E c ) ∪ ( F c ∩ E ).

10. Suppose that E and F are disjoint. Under what conditions are Ec and F c disjoint?

11. Let E1 , E2 , . . . be a sequence of events of a sample space. Prove that

∞ ∞
!
∑ P(En ).
[
P En ≤
n =1 n =1

This is called Boole’s inequality. (Hint: We can make use of the result from Exercise 2.)

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Numerical Exercises

12. An elevator in a building starts with five passengers and stops at seven floors.
If every passenger is equally likely to get off at each floor and all the passengers
leave independently of each other, what is the probability that no two passengers
will get off at the same floor?

13. An instructor gives her class a set of 10 problems with the information that the
final exam will consist of a random selection of 5 of them. If a student has figured
out how to do only 7 of the problems, what is the probability that he or she will
answer correctly

a. all 5 problems?

b. at least 4 of the problems?

14. For a Democratic candidate to win an election, she must win districts I, II and III.
Polls have shown that the probability of winning I and III is 0.55, losing II but
not I is 0.34, and losing II and III but not I is 0.15. Find the probability that this
candidate will win all three districts.