WST 121

Tutorial 1
1. Let 𝑋 = 1 if a head is obtained in a single coin toss and 𝑋 = 0 otherwise. The distribution of 𝑋 is

0.6, 𝑥=1
𝑝(𝑥) = { .
0.4, 𝑥=0

Suppose this coin is tossed 3 times, let 𝑋𝑖 denote the outcome on the 𝑖 th toss. Assume that all tosses
are independent.

a. What is the name of the distribution of 𝑋? Calculate 𝐸(𝑋).

b. Derive the sampling distribution of 𝑋̅.
c. What is the probability of the sample mean being more than 0.5?
d. Calculate 𝐸(𝑋̅) and compare with 𝐸(𝑋).

2. The tip percentage at a restaurant has a mean value of 18% and a standard deviation of 6%.
Calculate the approximate probability that the sample mean tip percentage for a random sample of 40
bills is between 16% and 19%.

3. Assume that 𝑌 is the time that an insurance claim takes to be processed (in days) and that 𝑌 follows a
1
1
distribution with density function 𝑓(𝑦) = 𝑒 −12𝑦 , for 𝑦 > 0. A sample of 150 claims is drawn at random.
12
a) Give the distribution and relevant parameter value(s) of 𝑌.
b) Calculate 𝑃(𝑌̅ ≥ 14)
c) Calculate the probability that the total time it takes to process all 150 claims is at most 2000 days.

4. Five automobiles of the same type are to be driven on a 300-mile trip. The first two will use an economy
brand of gasoline, and the other three will use a name brand. Let 𝑋1 , 𝑋2 , 𝑋3 𝑋4 and 𝑋5 be the observed
fuel efficiencies (mpg) for the five cars. Suppose these variables are independent and normally
distributed with 𝜇1 = 𝜇2 = 20, 𝜇3 = 𝜇4 = 𝜇5 = 21 and 𝜎 2 = 4 for the economy brand and 3.5 for the
name brand. Consider the following random variable:

𝑋1 + 𝑋2 𝑋3 + 𝑋4 + 𝑋5
𝑌= −
2 3

𝑌 is a measure of the difference in efficiency between economy gas and name-brand gas.
Calculate the following:

i. 𝐸(𝑌)

ii. 𝑉(𝑌)

iii. 𝑌 ~

iv. 𝑃(0 ≤ 𝑌)
 v. 𝑃(−1 ≤ 𝑌 ≤ 1)
1
vi. 𝐸(𝑋̅) where 𝑋̅ = ∑5𝑖=1 𝑋𝑖
5

vii. 𝑉(𝑋̅)

viii. 𝑋̅~

ix. 𝑃(19.4 ≤ 𝑋̅ ≤ 22.9)

x. 2𝑋̅ + 1 ~

5. Let X and Y be independent gamma random variables, both with the same scale parameter 𝛽. The
value of the other parameter is 𝛼1 for X and 𝛼2 for Y. What is the distribution of X + Y? Use moment
generating functions to find the distribution and relevant parameters.

6. Complete the table and observe the relations in the last column:

2 𝑡0.05,∞ . =
𝜒0.05,4 =
95th percentile of 𝜒 2 (10) = 95th percentile of 𝑍~𝑁(0,1)=
𝑡0.05,10 . = 𝑡0.10,∞ . =
90th percentile of 𝑡(10) = 90th percentile of 𝑍~𝑁(0,1)=
𝐹0.05,20,5 . = 𝑡0.01,∞ . =
90th percentile of 𝐹(8,7) = 99th percentile of 𝑍~𝑁(0,1)=
𝐹0.99,9,6 = 5th percentile of 𝐹(5,8) =

7. Suppose that X 1 , X 2 ,..., X 9 and Y1 , Y2 ,...Y12 are independent random samples with the variables
X i i = 1,2,...,9 standard normally distributed and the variables Yi i = 1,2,...,12 normally
distributed with  Y = 3 and  Y2 = 4 . Let X and Y be the sample means respectively and let S X2
and S Y2 be the sample variances respectively.
a. Use the information to specify the sampling distributions of the statistics given in the
table below. (Give the name of the distribution and also the parameter values).

STATISTIC SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION

Y1

3X
 5

∑ 𝑋𝑖
𝑖=1

9
V =  X i2
i =1

12 Yj − Y
W = ( )2
j =1 2
𝑉+𝑊

11S y2
U=
4
V
9
U
11
9𝑋̅
√𝑉

b. Prove that
𝑌̅ − 𝜇𝑌
~𝑡(11)
𝑆𝑌 ⁄√𝑛

You may assume that 𝑌̅ and 𝑆𝑌2 are independent.

8. A charity receives 2025 random contributions. Contributions are assumed to be independent

and identically distributed with mean R 3125 and standard deviation R 250.

a. Calculate the approximate 90th percentile for the distribution of the total contributions
received.

b. Let 𝑋̅ denote the mean of the 2025 contributions. Give the distribution (with parameter
values) of
10𝑋̅
𝜎