IISER Tirupati Monsoon Semester 2022

Exercises for MTH212: Introduction to Probability and Statistics

Exercise sheet 1 (09.09.2022)

Exercise 1
An urn consists of three white and three black balls. A ball is drawn at random, and
is then replaced back in the urn. This process is repeated four times. Compute the
probability that of the four balls drawn, exactly two are white.

Exercise 2
In a multiple-choice exam, each of the five questions has four possible answers. Compute
the probability that a student gets more than four answers correct by sheer guess work.

Exercise 3
Let X be a binomially distributed random variable with parameters (n, p). Assume that
(n + 1)p is an integer. Then, show that as k varies from 0 to n, P (X = k) increases
monotonically, then decreases monotonically after reaching its largest value at k = (n+1)p
or (n + 1)p − 1.

Exercise 4
An airline knows from its experience that 5% of the people who book tickets on a certain
flight do not show up. So they sell 52 tickets for a flight which can accommodate only 50
passengers. What is the probability that the flight accommodates every passenger who
shows up.

Exercise 5
A television store owner figures that 50% percent of the customers entering his store will
purchase a low-end television, 20% will purchase a high-end television, and the rest 30%
confine themselves to window shopping. If five customers enter his store on a particu-
lar day, compute the probability that two customers purchase high-end televisions, one
customer purchases a low-end television, and two customers purchase nothing.

Exercise 6
A fair coin is independently flipped n-times, k-times by A, and n − k-times by B. Then,
show that the probability that A and B flip the same number of heads is equal to the
probability that there are a total of k-heads.

Exercise 7
Let X be a Poisson random variable with parameter λ. Then, show that P (X = i)
increases monotonically and then decreases monotonically as i increases, reaching its
maximum when i is the largest integer not exceeding λ.

please turn over!

Exercise 8
Let X be a random variable with probability density function given by:

c(4x − 2x2 ), 0 < x < 2;
f (x) =
0, otherwise.

Compute the value of c, and P (1/2 < X < 3/2).

Exercise 9
A point is uniformly distributed within a disk centred at origin, and of radius 1, i.e., its
density is given by:
f (x, y) = C; 0 ≤ x2 + y 2 ≤ 1.
Find the probability that its distance from the origin is less than r, where 0 ≤ r ≤ 1.

Exercise 10
Kasparov and Karpov are set to play the final of the world chess championship. Assume
that a game is either won by Kasparov or Karpov, and there is no possibility of a draw.
The outcome of each game is independent of the other games. The probability of Kasparov
winning a game is p and Karpov winning is 1 − p. The first player to win four games is
declared the world chess champion. Find the expected number of games that are played,
and evaluate this quantity when p = 2/3.

Exercise 11
A total of 3-keys are to be put, one at a time, inP5-boxes, with each key independently
being put in box i with probability pi , such that 5i=1 pi = 1. Each time a key is put in
a nonempty box, we say a collision occurs. Find the expected number of collisions.