Math 1690 Test V Practice Questions

April 17, 2011

Directions: Calculators are NOT allowed.

1. A probability distribution has a mean of 50 and a standard

deviation of 3. Use Chebychev’s inequality to find the value c that
guarantees the probability is at least 64% that an outcome of the
experiment lies between 50-c and 50+c.
Ans. 5

2. Find the mean, variance, and standard deviation of the random

variable X associated with the probability density function over the
indicated interval.
a. f (x) = 7x8√2 ; [1, 8]

b. f (x) = 34 x; [1, 4]
c. f (x) = x34 ; [1, 4]
−x
d. f (x) = 14 e 4 ; [0, ∞)
(Hint: limx→∞ xn ekx = 0, if k < 0)
Ans. a. µ ≈ 2.3765; V ar(X) ≈ 2.3522; σ ≈ 1.5337.
b. µ = 93 ; V ar(X) ≈ 0.7151; σ ≈ 0.846.
35 √
c. µ = 2 ; V ar(X) = 34 ; σ = 21 3.
3

d. µ = 4; V ar(X) = 16; σ = 4.

3. A probability distribution has a mean of 42 and a standard

deviation of 2. Use Chebychev’s inequality to find the a bound on
the probability that an outcome of the experiment lies between
a. 38 and 46 b. 32 and 52.
Ans. a. At least 0.75 b. At least 0.96

4. The odds against an event E occurring are 4 to 5. Find the

probability of E not occurring.
Ans. 49

1
5. The probability distribution of a random variable X is shown in
the following table:

x 0 1 2 3 4 5
P(X=x) 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.1

Compute the mean and standard deviation of X.

Ans. µ = 2.7; σ ≈ 1.42

6. A binomial experiment consists of four trials in which the

probability of success in any one trial is 52 .
a. Find the probability of getting 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 successes
respectively.
b. Construct the probability distribution for this experiment.
c. Compute the mean and the standard deviation of the probability
distribution.
Ans. a. P (X = 0) = C(4, 0)(2/5)0 (3/5)4
P (X = 1) = C(4, 1)(2/5)1 (3/5)3
P (X = 2) = C(4, 2)(2/5)2 (3/5)2
P (X = 3) = C(4, 3)(2/5)3 (3/5)1
P (X = 4) = C(4, 4)(2/5)4 (3/5)0
b and c should be clear.

7. Let Z be the standard normal variable. Make a sketch of the

appropriate region under the standard normal curve and find the
probability
a. P (Z < 0.5)
b. P (Z > 0.75)
c. P (−0.42 < Z < 0.66)
Ans. a. 0.695 b. 0.2266 c. 0.4082

8. Let Z be the standard normal variable. Find z if z satisfies the

given value.
a. P (Z < z) = 0.9922
b. P (Z > z) = 0.9788
c. P (−z < Z < z) = 0.8444
Ans. a. z=2.42 b. z=-1.05 c. z=1.42

9. Let X be a normal random variable with µ = 10 and σ = 2.

Find the value of the given probability.
a. P (X < 11)

2
b. P (X > 8)
c. P (6.5 < X < 11.5).
Ans. a. 0.6915 b. 0.8413 c. 0.7333

10. The scores on an economics examination are normally distributed

with a mean of 70 and a standard deviation of 10. If the instructor
assigns A’s to 15%, B’s to 25%, C’s to 40%, D’s to 15%
of the class, find the cutoff points for grades A-D.
Ans.For Grade A: 80; For Grade B: 73; For Grade C: 62;
For Grade D: 54.