Tutorial 3: Continuous Probability Distributions

1. A random variable X has the probability density function [2076 Ashwin]

f(x) = k(5+ 2x), 2  x  4
0, otherwise
Find the value of k, mean and variance of random variable X

2. A continuous random variable X has the density function f(x) = C e-3x, x > 0
0, x  0
Find i) the constant C ii) P(1<x<2) iii) E(x) iv) V(x)

3. In a certain city, the daily consumption of electric power (in million kilowatt-hours) is a random variable having
the probability density
1
f(x) = 9 x e-x/3 for x > 0
=0 for x  0
If the city’s power plant has a daily capacity of 12 million kilowatt-hours, what is the probability that this power
supply will be inadequate on any given day? [0.0916]

4. A college professor never finishes his lecture before the bell rings to end the period, and always finishes his
lectures within one minute after the bell rings. Let X = the time which elapses between the bell and the end of the
lecture. Suppose that the p.d.f. of X is [074 Ashwin]

f(x) = kx2, 0  x  1
= 0, otherwise
a) Find the value of k [3]
b) What is the probability that the lecture ends within ½ minute of the bell ringing? [0.125]
c) What is the probability that the lecture continues beyond the bell for between 15 and 30 seconds? [0.109]
d) What is the probability that the lecture continues for at least 40 seconds beyond the bell? [0.7]

5. The probability density function given is by

f(x) = Cx2, 0 < x < 3
0, otherwise
i) Find the value of constant C ii) Compute P(1 < x < 2) iii) Find the distribution function

Normal Distribution:

6. X is normally distributed and the mean of X is 12 and standard deviation (s.d.) is 4. Then find out
a) P(X  20) b) P(X  20) c) P(0  X  12) d) Find ‘a’ when P(X>a) =0.24
[Ans: 0.0228, 0.9772, 0.498, 14.84]

7. The breakdown voltage X of a randomly chosen diode of a particular type is known to be normally distributed
with  = 40 volts and  = 2.25 volts. What is the probability that the breakdown voltage will be between
a) 39 and 42 volts b) less than 44 c) more than 43 volts? [0.48461, 0.96228, 0.09121] [074 Ashwin]

8. The mean yield for one-acre plot is 662 kilos with a s.d. 32 kilos. Assuming normal distribution, how many
one-acre plots in a batch of 1000 plots would you expect to have yield
a) over 700 kilos b) below 650 kilos [117, 353]

9. The time required to assemble a piece of machinery is a random variable having approximately a normal
distribution with mean 12.9 minutes and standard deviation of 2 minutes. What are the probabilities that the
assembly of a piece of machinery of this kind will take (i) at least 11.5 minutes (ii) between 11.0 to 14.8
minutes? [0.758, 0.6578] [2070 Chaitra]

10. Of a large group of men, 5% are under 60 inches in height and 40% are between 60 and 65 inches. Assuming a
normal distribution, find the mean height and standard deviation. [65.42, 3.29]

11. In a distribution exactly normal, 7% of the items are under 35 and 89% are under 63. What are the mean and
standard deviation of the distribution? [50.3, 10.33]
12. In a certain city, the number of power outage per month is random variable having a distribution with  = 11.6
and  = 3.3. If this distribution can be approximated closely with a normal distribution, what is the probability
that there will be at least eight outage in any one month? [0.86234, Using continuity correction: 0.89296]

13. The local authorities in a certain city install 10,000 electric lamps in the street of the city. If these lamps have an
average life of 1000 burning hours with standard deviation of 200 hours, assuming normality, what number of
lamps might be expected to fail
a) in the first 800 burning hours? [1587]
b) between 800 and 1200 burning hours? [6826]

14. Plastic rods are automatically cut into normal length of 6 inches. Actual lengths are normally distributed about
mean of 6 inches and their standard deviation. is 0.06 inch. What proportion of the rod exceeds tolerance limits
of 5.9 inches to 6.1 inches? [9.5%]

15. The height of 1000 students follows normal distribution with mean 66 inches and standard deviation 2 inches.
Find: a) how many students may be expected between 63 inches and 69 inches? b) the height beyond which
10% of the student should lie? [867, 68.56]

16. A particular type of gasoline tank for a compact car is designed to hold 15 gallons. Suppose that the actual
capacity X of a randomly chosen tank of this type is normally distributed with mean 15 and standard deviation
0.2 gallons. If the car on which a randomly chosen tank is mounted get exactly 25 miles per gallon, what is the
prob. that the car can travel 370 miles without refueling? [0.8413]

17. The marks obtained by students in an exam are normally distributed. The mean marks and standard deviation of
the distribution are 500 and 100 respectively. If 674 appeared in the examination and out of those, 550 are to be
declared passed, what should be the minimum pass marks? [410]

18. A multiple-choice quiz has 80 questions each with four possible answers of which only one is correct answer.
What is the prob. that sheer guesswork yields from 25 to 30 correct answers about which the student has no
knowledge? [0.1191]

19. A coin is tossed 400 times. Find the prob. of obtaining (a) between 185 and 210 heads inclusive and (b) exactly
205 heads. [0.7925, 0.0352]

20. If 20% of the memory chips made in certain plant are defective, what are the probabilities that in a lot of 100
randomly chosen for inspection a) at most 15 will be defective and (b) exactly 15 will be defective. [0.13029,
0.04573]
21. Assume that the number of asbestos particles in a squared meter of dust on a surface follows a Poisson
distribution with a mean of 1000. If a squared meter of dust is analyzed, what is the probability that less than
950 particles are found? [0.057]
22. If the expected number of Cars arriving at the toll booth per ten minute interval is 25, find the probability that in
any given 10 minutes, at least 20 cars arrive? [0.88493]

Gamma Distribution

22. If a random variable X has the gamma distribution with  = 2 and  = 1, find P(1.8  X  2.4). [0.1545]

23. In a certain city, the daily consumption of water (in millions of gallons) follow approximately a gamma
distribution with  = 2 and  = 3. If the daily capacity of this city is 9 million gallons of water, what is the
probability that on any given day, the water supply is inadequate? [0.1991]

24. Suppose that the time (in hours) taken by a homeowner to mow his lawn is a random variable X having gamma
distribution with parameters  = 2 and  = ½.
a) What is the probability that it takes at most 1 hour to mow the lawn? [0.594]
b) What is the probability that it takes at least 2 hours to mow the lawn? [0.092]
c) What is the probability that it takes between 0.5 and 1.5 hours to mow the lawn? [0.537]

25. Suppose that the reaction time X of a randomly selected individual to a certain stimulus has a standard gamma
distribution with  = 2 seconds. What is the probability that the reaction time is more than 4 seconds? [0.092]

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 Extra Questions:

1. In a certain examination test 2000 students appeared in Statistics. The average marks obtained were 50% and
the standard deviation was 5%. How many students do you expect to obtain more than 60% marks? What are
the minimum marks of the top 100 students? Assume that the marks are normally distributed.
[46, 58.2%] [2073 Chaitra]

2. In a normal distribution, 31% of the items are under 45 and 8% are over 64. Find the mean and standard
deviation of the distribution. [2076 Ashwin]

3. The mean of inner diameter (in inch) of sample of 200 tubes produced by a machine is 0.502 and the standard
deviation is 0.005. The purpose for which these tubes are intended allow a maximum tolerance of inner
diameter is 0.496 to 0.508 (otherwise the tubes are considered to be defective). What percentage of the tube
produced by the machine is defective if the diameters are found to be normally distributed? [2072 Chaitra]

4. A safety engineers feels that 40% of all industrial accident in her plant are caused by failure of employees to
follow instruction. If this figure is correct, find the approx. prob. that among 84 industrialized accidents in this
plant anywhere from 20 to 30 (inclusive) will be due to failure of employees to follow instruction

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