The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong

AMS1303 Probability and Statistics

Chapter 3-1 Exercise: Probability Distributions

1. Randomly select a datum from the (population) data set

2, 3, 3, 3, 7, 9, 9, 12, 15, 15
Let X be the value of the selected datum.
(a) Construct the probability distribution of X.
(b) Find the mean and variance of X.

2. John is going to determine whether to continue to work in a fast food shop or to do his own
business of selling beer. If he continues to work in a fast food shop, a fixed income of $400 is
received daily. If the latter is chosen, his daily income will be seasonal. He can earn $750 on
a hot day, $560 on a warm day, $360 on a cool day and $120 on a cold day. The probabilities
that he works on a hot, warm, cool or cold day are 0.1, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.2 respectively.
(a) Determine the expected value to be earned by selling beer per day.
(b) Should John continue to work in a fast food shop or do his own business of selling beer?

3. A box contains 5 identical balls numbered from 1 to 5. An experiment consists of selecting

two of these balls randomly without replacement and identifying their numbers. Define the
random variable X to be the sum of the numbers on the two selected balls.
(a) Construct the probability distribution of X.
(b) Find the mean and standard deviation of X.

4. Let X be a random variable with the following probability distribution:

x -5 -2 1 6
p(x) 7/16 3/16 5/16 k
(a) Find the value of k.
(b) Find the mean and standard deviation of X.

5. The chance that a seed will germinate is 7/9. There are 9 seeds sown.
(a) What is the probability that exactly 7 seeds will germinate?
(b) What is the probability that at least 6 seeds will germinate?
(c) Given that at least 6 seeds will germinate, what is the probability that
(i) fewer than 8 seeds will germinate?
(ii) more than 7 seeds will germinate?
(d) Find the expected value and standard deviation of the number of germinated seeds.
 (e) If a seed does not germinate, it will never become a flower. The probability that a
germinated seed will become a flower is 2/3. There are 9 seeds sown.
(i) Find the probability that a particular seed will become a flower.
(ii) Find the probability that exactly 3 seeds will become flowers.
(iii) Find the mean and standard deviation of the number of seeds that become flowers.

6. The probability that Jim goes to work by taxi is 0.3. He works 6 days in a week.
(a) Find the probability that Jim goes to work by taxi in at least 3 days in a week given that
(i) he goes to work by taxi for at most 4 days,
(ii) he goes to work by taxi for more than 1 day.
(b) Find the probability that Jim goes to work by taxi in exactly 2 consecutive mornings.

7. (a) There is a probability of 0.2 that a toy punched by a trainee operator will contain an
error. Find the probability that a random sample of 4 toys punched by a trainee operator
will contain just 1 error-free toy.
(b) There is a probability of 0.05 that a toy punched by an experienced operator will contain
an error. Find the probability that in a random sample of 20 toys punched by an
experienced operator there will be no more than 3 toys containing errors.
(c) Of the total number of toy punched in a day by a pool of operators, 4% are punched by
trainee operators and 96% by experienced operators. Show that the probability that a
toy chosen at random from a daily output in this pool contains an error is equal to 0.056.

8. There are 6 red balls and 4 black balls in an urn. In each ‘trial’ 4 balls are drawn with
replacement from the urn. If 2 red balls and 2 black balls are drawn in a trial, it is called a
‘success’. Trials of this kind are repeated. What is the probability that the 5th ‘success’ occurs
on the 15th trial?

Numerical Answers:
1.
(a) x 2 3 7 9 12 15
p(x) 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2
(b) 𝐸(𝑋) = 7.8, 𝑉𝑎𝑟(𝑋) = 22.76

2.
x (in $) 120 360 560 750
(a)
p(x) 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.1

Expected income is $411.

(b) In the long run, the daily income of selling beer is $411. That is greater than the daily
income of $400 if working in a fast food shop. Therefore, John should sell beer.
3.
x 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
(a)
p(x) 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1

(b) E(X) = 6 S .D. ( X ) = 1.7321

4. (a) 𝑘 = 1/16 (b) E (Y ) = −15 / 8 , S.D. = 3.2763

5. (a) 0.3061 (b) 0.8822 (c) (i) 0.5783 (ii) 0.4217 (d) 7, 1.2471
(e) (i) 0.5185 (ii) 0.1459 (iii) 4.6667, 1.4990
6. (a) (i) 0.2475 (ii) 0.4410 (b) 0.1080
7. (a) 0.0256 (b) 0.9841 (c) 0.056
8. 0.0711