Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology

B.Tech Aerospace, EC & Engineering Physics, August 2021

MA 311 Probability, Statistics & Numerical Methods
Tutorial I
1. Consider a set of n elements. A sample of size r is drawn at random with replacement. Find the
probability that no element appears more than once.
2. If n balls are to be randomly placed in n cells, find the probability that each cell will be occupied.
3. Consider the random distribution of r balls in n cells. Let Ak be the event that a specified cell has
exactly k balls, k = 0, 1, 2, ......, r. Find P (Ak ). Assume that the balls once used can be considered
for further distribution.
4. An urn contains R red and W white marbles. Marbles are drawn from the urn one after another
without replacement. Let Ak be the event that a red marble is drawn for the first time on the k th
draw.Find P (Ak ).
5. In a population of N elements, R are red and W = N − R are white. A group of n elements
is selected at random. Find the probability that the groups so chosen will contain exactly r red
elements.
6. An urn contains five white and four black balls. Four balls are transfered to a second urn. A ball
is then drawn from this urn. Find the probability that it is black.
7. A slip of paper is given to person A, who marks it with either a plus or a minus sign; the probability
of his writing a plus sign is 31 . A passes the slip to B, who may either leave it alone or change
the sign before passing it to C. Next, C passes the slip to D, after perhaps changing the sign.
The referee sees a plus sign on the slip. It is known that B, C, and D each change the sign with
probability 32 . Find the probability that A originally wrote a plus.
8. A biased coin with probability p, 0 < p < 1, of success(heads) is tossed until for the first time the
same result occurs three times in succession. Find the probability that the game will end at the
seventh throw.
9. A bag contains 4 white and 5 black balls and another bag contains 3 white and 4 black balls. A
ball is taken from the first bag and without seeing its colour is put in the second bag. A ball is
taken out from the latter. Find the probability that the ball drawn is white.
10. The faces of a dice have been coloured. Four faces are coloured white, one face is coloured black
and the other face is coloured red. The dice is thrown four times. Find the probability that the
colours
(i) white, black, red and white appear in the first, second, third and fourth throws respectively.
(ii) red, white,black and black appear in the first, second, third and fourth throws respectively.
11. A student A can solve 80 percent of the problems in a question paper and student B can solve 60
percent. If a problem from the question paper is selected at random, what is the probability that
atleast one of them will solve the problem.
12. A company has four machines A, B, C and D manufacturing bulbs. The machines A,B,C, and D
produce 50 percent, 25 percent, 15 percent and 10 percent bulbs respectively. The percentage of
defective bulbs produced by the machines A, B, C and D are 2,1,1, and 0.5 respectively. Out of
the output, one bulb is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is defective?

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13. Does the function
x + 1 −x/θ
f (x) = e if x > 0, and
θ(θ + 1)
= 0 otherwise

where θ > 0 define a pdf? If so, find the corresponding distribution function.

14. Let (X, Y ) be jointly distributed with pdf

f (x, y) = 2, 0<x<y<1
= 0, otherwise

Find the marginal and conditional pdfs of X and Y . Also compute p(Y ≥ 1/2|X = 1/2) and
p(X ≥ 1/3|Y = 2/3).

15. The mileage in thousands of kilometers which car owners get with a particular brand of tyre is a
x
1 − 50
random variable having a pdf f (x) = 50 e for x > 0 and zero for x ≤ 0. Find the probability
that a tyre last

(i) atmost 10,000 kms.

(ii) between 15,000 kms to 30,000 kms.

16. A pdf is defined by f (x) = ae−bx , 0 ≤ x < ∞, b > 0 where b is prescribed and a is a constant.
Find the value of the constant. Find the mean and standard deviation of the distribution.

17. A continuous random variable X is distributed over the interval [0,2] with pdf f (x) = ax2 + bx,
where a and b are constants. If the mean of the distribution is 12 find the values of the constants
a and b.

18. The amount of kerosene, in thousands of litres, in a tank at the beginning of any day is a random
amount Y from which a random amount X is sold during that day. Assume that the tank is
not resupplied during the day and that the joint probability density function of these variables is
f (x, y) = 2, 0 < x < y, 0 < y < 1 and = 0 otherwise.

(a) Determine if X and Y are independent.

(b) Find P ( 14 < X < 12 |Y = 34 ).

19. Let X and Y denote the length of life, in years of two components in an electronic system. If the
joint density function of these veriables is f (x, y) = e−(x+y) , x > 0, y > 0 and = 0 otherwise.
Find P (0 < X < 1|Y = 2).

20. The speed of a molecule in a uniform gas at equilibrium is a random variable V whose probability
2
distribution is given by f (v) = kv 2 e−bv , V > 0, = 0 otherwise where k is an appropriate
constant and b depend on the absolute temperature and mass of the molecule. Find the probability
2
distribution of the kinetic energy of the molecule W , where W = mV2 .

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