Stelsels en Seine / Systems and Signals 344 Tutorial 3 Memo

Question 1
(a) The sample space of the experiment is displayed below.

(b) The PMF PX (x) is

(c) The cumulative probability distribution FX (x) is

Stelsels en Seine / Systems and Signals 344 Tutorial 3 Memo

(d) We can determine P (0 < X ≤ 2) by using FX (x):

P (0 < X ≤ 2) = FX (2) − FX (0)

11 1
= −
16 16
10
=
16
= 0.625

Question 2
Using the CDF we can determine
(a)
P (Y < 1) = 0

(b)
P (Y ≤ 1) = 0.25

(c)
P (Y ≥ 2) = 1 − P (Y < 2) = 1 − FY (1) = 0.75

(d)
P (Y = 3) = 0.5

(e)
P (Y > 3) = 1 − P (Y ≤ 3) = 1 − 1 = 0

(f)

0.25


y=1
0.25 y=2
PY (y) =
0.5
 y=3

0 otherwise

Stelsels en Seine / Systems and Signals 344 Tutorial 3 Memo

Question 3
We know that a single is twice as likely as a double, which is twice as likely as a triple etc. If we define p as the
probability that a player gets a home run, then

PB (4) = p
PB (3) = 2p
PB (2) = 4p
PB (1) = 8p
If any kind of hit occurs with a probability of 0.3, then
p + 2p + 4p + 8p = 0.3
Rearranging the above equation, we get that p = 0.02. So the PMF of B is

0.7


b=0
0.16 b=1





0.08 b = 2
PB (b) =


 0.04 b = 3
0.02 b = 4





0 otherwise


We could also have gotten the answer by making PB (1) = p, which would make p = 0.16.

Question 4
distance
We let X be the time it takes Peter to get to class. The time it takes for Peter to get to class is t = speed .

3
Walking: t = = 0.75 h
4
3
Driving: t = = 0.06 h
50
Stelsels en Seine / Systems and Signals 344 Tutorial 3 Memo

We want the average time it takes Peter to get to class, so we want E[X].

E[X] = 0.65 · 0.75 + 0.35 · 0.06 = 0.5085 h = 30.51 min

Note: It is incorrect to calculate the average speed E[V ] and then estimate the time, i.e

E[V ] = 4 · 0.65 + 50 · 0.35

= 20.1
3
T =
20.1
= 0.1493 ̸= 0.5085
3
This is because the transformation g(X) = V = X is not linear, so E[g(x)] ̸= g(E[X]).

Question 5
The transformation of random variables is linear, so

E{V } = E{−X + 4Y } = −E{X} + 4E{Y }

= −3 + 4 · κ = 25

So to find κ is simply
25 + 3
κ= =7
4

Question 6
2
(a) The variance of X is σX = E[(X − µX )2 ]. The random variables have equal probability, so the mean of X
can be determined by

1
µX = · [12 + 17 + 20 + 45 + 50 + 57] = 33.5
6
2
With the mean µX we can determine the variance σX :

X
2
σX = PX (x)(x − µX )2
∀x
1
= [(12 − 33.5)2 + (17 − 33.5)2 + (20 − 33.5)2 + (45 − 33.5)2 + (50 − 33.5)2 + (57 − 33.5)2 ]
6
1
= [1873.5]
6
= 312.25

The standard deviation is q

σX = 2 = 17.67
σX
The standard deviation is a measure of the dispersion of sample values around the expected value. It describes
the variability of the samples.

(b) The skewness is described by µ3 = E[(X − µX )3 ]. We know from the previous question that µX = 33.5.
Stelsels en Seine / Systems and Signals 344 Tutorial 3 Memo

X
µ3 = E[(X − µX )3 ] = PX (x)(x − µX )3
∀x
1
= [(12 − 33.5)3 + (17 − 33.5)3 + (20 − 33.5)3 + (45 − 33.5)3 + (50 − 33.5)3 + (57 − 33.5)3 ]
6
1
= [2100]
6
= 350

We also know the standard deviation to be σX = 17.67, so we can easily normalize:

µ3 350
γ= 3
= = 0.0634
σ 17.673
The coefficient of skewness is positive, so the asymmetry is to the right (the right tail is longer).

Question 7
(a) As a function of N , the cost T is

T = 75N + 40(3 − N ) = 120 + 35N

Stelsels en Seine / Systems and Signals 344 Tutorial 3 Memo

(b) The PMF of T is 

0.1 for t = 120,

PT (t) = 0.3 for t = 155, 190, 225

0 otherwise


The expected value of T is

E[T ] = 120 · 0.1 + (155 + 190 + 225) · 0.3

= 183