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3. The sum of the probabilities of all the events in the sample space of a probability
distribution must equal 1.
Ans: True Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.1
X 2 1 0 1 2
P(X) 0.11 0.22 0.42 0.13 0.28
X 2 1 0 1 2
P(X) 0.19 0.26 –0.21 0.45 0.31
10. For the following data, construct a graph showing the probability distribution.
X 0 1 2 3 4
P(X) 0.35 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.05
Ans:
0.4
Probability
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 1 2 3 4
X
Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.1
Page 60
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
11. The number of song requests a radio station receives per day is indicated in the table
below. Construct a graph for this data.
Number of calls X 8 9 10 11 12
Probability P(X) 0.21 0.31 0.16 0.14 0.18
Ans:
12. Construct the probability distribution for the number of heads obtained when tossing four
coins. Draw a graph of the distribution.
Ans:
Number of Heads X 0 1 2 3 4
1 1 3 1 1
Probability P(X)
16 4 8 4 16
4/8
Probability
3/8
2/8
1/8
0
0 1 2 3 4
Number of Heads
Page 61
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
13. The figure below represents the probability distribution for selecting a number of objects
out of a container. Construct a probability distribution from this graph.
Ans:
Number of Objects X 0 1 2 3 4
Probability P(X) 0.10 0.25 0.35 0.20 0.10
X 0 1 2 3 4
P(X) 0.20 0.35 0.10 0.25 0.10
X 2 3 4
P(X) 0.28 0.40 0.32
Page 62
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
X 0 2 4 6 8
P(X) 0.20 0.05 0.35 0.25 0.15
X 2 4 5 6
P(X) 0.32 0.12 0.37 0.19
A) 4.11 B) 17 C) 0.25 D) 1
Ans: A Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.2
X 2 3 4 5
P(X) 0.50 0.25 0.15 0.10
21. The number of cartoons watched on Saturday mornings by students in Mrs. Kelly's first
grade class is shown below.
Page 63
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
22. The number of cartoons watched on Saturday mornings by students in Mrs. Kelly's first
grade class is shown below.
23. Using the probability distribution listed, the mean would be 1.6.
X 0 1 2 3
P(X) 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.4
X 2 3 4
P(X) 0.32 0.24 0.44
25. An insurance company issues a policy for a diamond ring worth $15,000 for an annual
premium of $225.00. If the company figures the probability of the ring to be lost or
damaged is 0.005, what is the company's expected profit?
A) $75.00 B) $145.00 C) $70.00 D) $150.00
Ans: D Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.2
26. If a gambler rolls two dice and gets a sum of 10, he wins $10, and if he gets a sum of
three, he wins $20. The cost to play the game is $5. What is the expectation of this
game?
A) $3.06 B) –$2.78 C) –$3.06 D) $2.78
Ans: C Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.2
27. A raffle offers one $8000.00 prize, one $4000.00 prize, and five $1600.00 prizes. There
are 5000 tickets sold at $5 each. Find the expectation if a person buys one ticket.
A) $1.00 B) $5000 C) $1.00 D) $5000
Ans: C Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.2
Page 64
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
30. In a large bag of marbles, 20% of them are red. A child chooses 4 marbles from this bag.
If the child chooses the marbles at random, what is the chance that the child gets exactly
three red marbles?
A) 0.026 B) 0.102 C) 0.154 D) 0.032
Ans: A Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
31. A student takes a 14-question, multiple-choice exam with three choices for each question
and guesses on each question. Find the probability of guessing exactly 3 out of 14
correctly.
A) 0.844 B) 0.333 C) 0.214 D) 0.156
Ans: D Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
32. A coin is tossed five times. Find the probability of getting exactly three heads.
A) 0.125 B) 0.156 C) 0.800 D) 0.313
Ans: D Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
33. If a student randomly guesses at 20 multiple-choice questions, find the probability that
the student gets exactly four correct. Each question has four possible choices.
A) 0.190 B) 0.162 C) 0.085 D) 0.218
Ans: A Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
34. A pet supplier has a stock of parakeets of which 20% are blue parakeets. A pet store
orders 3 parakeets from this supplier. If the supplier selects the parakeets at random,
what is the chance that the pet store gets exactly one blue parakeet?
A) 0.128 B) 0.384 C) 0.096 D) 0.024
Ans: B Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
35. A jewelry supplier has a supply of earrings which are 40% platinum. A store owner
orders five sets of earrings from the supplier. If the supplier selects the pairs of earrings
at random, what is the chance that the jewelry store gets exactly two sets of platinum
pairs?
A) 0.4320 B) 0.2880 C) 0.3456 D) 0.1920
Ans: C Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
Page 65
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
36. If 1.5% of the bolts made by an automotive factory are defective, what is the probability
that in a shipment of 200 bolts, there are 6 defective bolts?
Ans: 0.050
Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
37. A student takes a 6 question multiple choice quiz with 4 choices for each question. If the
student guesses at random on each question, what is the probability that the student gets
exactly 2 questions correct?
A) 0.074 B) 0.222 C) 0.297 D) 0.593
Ans: C Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
38. Find the mean for the values of n and p when the conditions for the binomial distribution
are met.
n = 100, p = 0.4
A) 24 B) 40 C) 4.9 D) 60
Ans: B Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
39. Find the variance for the values of n and p when the conditions for the binomial
distribution are met.
n = 700, p = 0.75
A) 131.25 B) 525 C) 11.5 D) 175
Ans: A Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
40. Find the standard deviation for the values of n and p when the conditions for the binomial
distribution are met.
n = 200, p = 0.55
A) 49.5 B) 110 C) 7.0 D) 90
Ans: C Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
41. A coin is tossed 72 times. Find the standard deviation for the number of heads that will
be tossed.
A) 36 B) 18 C) 4.24 D) 6.78
Ans: C Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
42. A multiple choice quiz consists of 100 questions, each with 5 possible answers. Find the
mean for the number of correct answers, if a student guesses on each question.
A) 50.0 B) 20.0 C) 5.0 D) 95.0
Ans: B Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
43. A die is rolled 360 times. Find the standard deviation of the number of times a 3 will be
rolled.
A) 21.3 B) 50 C) 7.1 D) 5.9
Ans: C Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
Page 66
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
44. In a survey, 75% of the voters support a particular referendum. If 30 voters are chosen at
random, find the standard deviation of the number of voters who support the referendum.
Ans: The standard deviation is 2.4.
Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
45. A certain large manufacturing facility produces 20,000 parts each week. The manager of
the facility estimates that about 1% of the parts they make are defective. What is the
variance for the number of defective parts made each week?
A) 200 B) 198 C) 14.1 D) 138
Ans: B Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
46. A university has 10,000 students of which 45% are male and 55% are female. If a class
of 30 students is chosen at random from the university population, find the mean and
variance of the number of male students.
A) Mean = 16.5, Variance = 2.7 C) Mean = 16.5, Variance = 7.4
B) Mean = 13.5, Variance = 2.7 D) Mean = 13.5, Variance = 7.4
Ans: D Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
47. The failure rate for taking the bar exam in Philadelphia is 41%. If 375 people take the
bar exam, what is the mean for the number of failures?
A) 138.1 B) 221.3 C) 90.7 D) 153.8
Ans: D Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
48. A school is sending 18 children to a camp. If 20% of the children in the school are first
graders, and the 18 children are selected at random from among all 6 grades at the school,
find the mean and variance of the number of first graders chosen?
Ans: The mean is 3.6, and the variance is 2.9.
Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
49. In a survey, 55% of the voters support a particular referendum. If 20 voters are chosen at
random, find the mean and variance for the number of voters who support the
referendum.
Ans: The mean is 11 and the variance is 4.95.
Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
50. A computer store has 75 printers of which 25 are laser printers and 50 are ink jet printers.
If a group of 10 printers is chosen at random from the store, find the mean and variance
of the number of ink jet printers.
A) Mean = 6.7, Variance = 2.2 C) Mean = 3.3, Variance = 2.2
B) Mean = 6.7, Variance = 1.5 D) Mean = 3.3, Variance = 1.5
Ans: A Difficulty: Moderate Section: 5.3
51. The probability of a success remains the same for each trial in a binomial experiment.
Ans: True Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
Page 67
Chapter 5 - Discrete Probability Distributions
52. In binomial experiments, each trial can be viewed as having only two outcomes.
Ans: True Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
53. In a binomial experiment, the outcome of each trial will depend on the ones before it.
Ans: False Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
55. The binomial distribution equations will not give exact probabilities for experiments in
which sampling is done without replacement. In those cases, the trials are not
independent.
Ans: True Difficulty: Easy Section: 5.3
Page 68
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The stem of the young morning-glory sweeps slowly through the
air in circles, in search of some support.
You remember that the curious dodder acted in this same way,
and that its movements reminded us of the manner in which a blind
man feels about him.
When the morning-glory finds just the support it needs, it lays hold
of it, and twists about it, and then climbs upward with great
satisfaction.
I want you to watch this curious performance. It is sure to amuse
you. The plant seems to know so well what it is about, and it acts so
sensibly when it finds what it wants.
But if it happens to meet a glass tube, or something too smooth to
give it the help it needs, it slips off it, and seems almost as
discouraged as a boy would be who fails in his attempt to climb a
slippery tree or telegraph pole.
Fig. 123
I hope your teacher will tell you where you can find one of these
two plants, for in the country the creeper is plentiful, and the
Japanese ivy is planted freely in our cities; and I hope you will go
and see how firmly these little flattened stems cling to the wall or to
the tree trunk. Try gently to pull off one of these determined little
stems, and I think you will admire it for its firm grip.
There are other than climbing plants whose stems are not strong
enough to stand up straight without help.
Think of the beautiful water lily. If you have ever spent a morning
in a boat (as I hope you have, for it is a delightful way to spend a
morning) hunting water lilies, you will remember that these flowers
float on top of the water; and when you reach over to pick them, you
find the tall flower stems standing quite erect in the water.
But what happened when you broke them off, and held them in
your hand?
Why, these long stems proved to have no strength at all. They
flopped over quite as helplessly as the morning-glory vine would do if
you unwound it from the wires up which it was climbing; and you saw
that they had only been able to stand up straight because of the help
the water had given them.
SOME HABITS OF STEMS
B ESIDE the stems which stand erect without help (like that of the
corn), and those which climb by means of some support (like
those of the morning-glory and bean), and those which are held up
by the water (like that of the water lily), there are stems which slant
upward (like that of the red clover), stems which lie upon the ground
(like that of the snowberry), and stems which creep (that is, which
run along the ground), and which strike root, and so give rise to new
plants (like those of the white clover and strawberry).
With the new plants you meet, try always to notice to which of
these different classes their stems belong; for later, when you wish to
use the botany and to learn the names of the plants, this habit of
noticing things will help you greatly.
Then, too, with every new plant, you should find out whether its
stem is round or square, and whether it is smooth or hairy, or if it is
at all thorny.
The thorns and hairs which some plants scatter over their stems
protect them from animals and insects, which might otherwise do
them an injury.
By the thorns little snails are prevented from climbing up the stems
and eating away the green leaves above; and the cows and horses
are pretty sure to leave the thorny plants well alone. It is easy to
understand why we find thistle plants growing thickly in the pasture,
which is nearly bare of everything else. Long ago these thistles
clothed themselves in an armor of prickles, and ever since they have
been successful in waging war against the cattle.
Sometimes a tree will cover its lower part only with thorns. Why is
this, do you suppose?
This is because only the lower branches are within reach of the
cattle. Only these have any need of a suit of thorns. The wild pear,
which grows in Europe, is such a tree as this.
A stem that is covered with hairs, and also one that is sticky in
spots, serves to protect its flowers from an attack by ants, or by other
insects that might do them harm; for these flowers, you remember,
hold the golden dust which works such wonders when carried to
another flower. And you recall, that, when bees go to plants for the
sweet stuff from which honey is made, they carry this flower dust
from blossom to blossom. But if the sweet stuff is given up to greedy
insects, then this good work is not done; for the bees get disgusted,
and stop visiting the plants which do not take more pains to please
them. And so oftentimes the plant covers its stem with hairs or with
sticky drops, so that the meddlesome little thieves cannot get up to
the blossom at all.
So if you pick a flower which leaves your fingers sticky, you must
remember that the plant is only doing its duty in trying to please the
bees.
Although I have seen these plants do so many queer things that I
am learning not to be surprised at their clever ways, I must own that I
was a little astonished to see how anxious one of them was to save
itself unnecessary trouble.
There is a plant called the “amphibious knotweed.” This is a rather
difficult name, I know. This word “amphibious” is applied to
something that can live both in water and on land; and this plant
grows sometimes in the pond or river, and sometimes on the shore.
When on land, its stem is covered with the hairs which serve to
keep meddlesome insects from climbing up to its pretty balls of pink
flowers. In the water there is no danger of any such attack from
insects; and so when it happens to grow in the pond or river, this
knowing little plant does not trouble itself to clothe with hairs its stem,
but leaves this quite smooth.
Next summer I hope you will hunt up the amphibious knotweed,
and will compare the smooth water stem with the hairy one that
grows on land.
STEMS AND SEED LEAVES
Fig. 127
Fig. 128
BUDS IN WINTER
Fig.
129
If you have any such idea as that, you are quite wrong. Last
summer, when the leaves were large and fresh, the little buds, that
were not to unfold for nearly a year, began to form, growing
somewhat larger as the weeks went by, and folding themselves
tightly in the brown, leathery wrappings that were to keep them safe
from the cold of winter.
I should like you to pull off these wrappings, and see how well the
horse-chestnut tree defends from cold its baby leaves.
First you find about seven of these outside wrappings. The very
outer ones are thick and brown, and covered with the sticky stuff that
makes them proof against rain.
The next ones are brown and thick where their tips are exposed to
the air, while the inner ones are green and delicate. But altogether
they make a warm, snug covering for young leaves and flowers.
As for the baby leaves themselves, they are all done up in a furry
stuff that keeps them from catching cold, even if a gust of wind or a
few drops of rain should manage to make a way through the
waterproof and almost air-tight wrappings.
So you see that the leaves and branches and young flowers of a
plant or tree are looked after just as carefully as is the seed within
the seed case, or the baby plant in its seed shell.
A HAPPY SURPRISE
Fig.
130
H ERE you see a branch from the red maple (Fig. 130).
On the flowering shoots three buds grow side by side. The
middle, smaller one holds the leaves. These leaves do not appear
until the two outer, larger buds have burst into flower clusters; for the
flowers of the red maple appear before its leaves.
I want you to bring to school as many different kinds of branches
as you can find, and I hope you will examine them all very carefully.
Notice the position of their buds, and whether these grow close
together or are scattered far apart, and whether one bud grows just
opposite another; and look for the marks left by the leaves which
broke off last fall.
When the buds are large enough, you will find it interesting to pull
them apart (but you must do this with great care) and see how
beautifully wrapped are the baby leaves and flowers.
I chose the branch of the horse-chestnut for special examination,
because its large buds show their contents plainly.
When a bud grows on the tip of a stem, its work is to carry on that
stem; but when it grows just above a leaf scar, you can be sure that
it is a young branch. Such a branch may bear either leaves or
flowers, or both.
But buds do not all grow up at the same time, or necessarily at all.
The strongest ones are the first to open. The others may keep
quiet for some time, not unfolding, perhaps, unless some of the
earlier ones are killed. In this case, the waiting buds try to fill the gap,
and carry on the good work of clothing the tree with leaves and
flowers.
Sometimes they wait over till another year, and occasionally a bud
never opens at all.
You all enjoyed planting seeds, and watching them grow under
your very eyes.
Now I am going to propose to you a scheme which has given me
quite as much pleasure as my pot gardens.
When the buds on the winter branches have swelled the least little
bit, after a few warm days in February perhaps, go to the woods and
cut several branches in places where no one will miss them, and
take them home and put them in warm water, in a warm, bright
corner, and see what happens.
It will be a real joy to you, watching these little buds get bigger and
bigger, till the outer wrappings are forced apart, and either thrown
well aside, or pushed off altogether; and you will be filled with delight
when the delicate baby leaves begin to stretch themselves, or, better
still, when the pure, beautiful flowers burst from the brown, dead-
looking twigs.
Get branches of cherry, apple, peach, and pear; and bring in the
pussy willow, the maple, the Forsythia, the spicebush, and, if you
can find it, the mountain laurel; and if you do not pass many
moments of almost breathless pleasure watching the wonders these
budding branches are so eager to reveal, you are not the children I
take you to be.
SOME ASTONISHING BUDS
T HERE are some plants which do not put any winter wraps on
their delicate buds; and, strangely enough, these buds do not
seem to suffer for lack of clothing.
In a warm country this would not surprise us. If we were going to
spend the winter in the West Indies, we should not carry our furs with
us, for we should not meet any weather cold enough to make them
necessary; and so perhaps in the West Indies the buds have no
more need of winter clothing than we ourselves.
But if we were to spend the Christmas holidays somewhere in our
Northern mountains, if we were going for skating and coasting to the
Catskills or the Adirondacks, we should not fail to take with us our
warmest clothes.
And yet, if we walked in the Adirondack woods, we should meet
over and over again a shrub bearing naked buds, their folded,
delicate leaves quite exposed to the bitter cold.
This shrub is the hobblebush, the pretty flowers of which you see
on p. 246.
I do not understand any better than you why this hobblebush does
not tuck away its baby leaves beneath a warm covering. Neither do I
understand how these naked leaves can live through the long, cold
winter. I should like very much to satisfy myself as to the reason for
this, for they do live and flourish; and I wish that such of you children
as know the home of the hobblebush (and it is common in many
places) would watch this shrub through the winter, and see if you can
discover how it can afford to take less care of its buds than other
plants.
There is one tree which seems to shield its buds more carefully in
summer than in winter. This tree is the buttonwood. It grows not only
in the country, but in many of our city streets and squares. You know
it by the way in which its bark peels in long strips from its trunk and
branches, and by the button-like balls which hang from the leafless
twigs all winter.
If you examine one of these twigs, now that they are bare of
leaves, you see the buds quite plainly; but if it is summer time, when
the leaves are clinging to the branch, you see no buds, and suppose
that they are not yet formed.
But here you are wrong.
“How can that be?” you ask. You looked carefully, and nowhere
was there any sign of a bud.
But you did not look everywhere, after all.
If very carefully you had pulled off one of the leaves, you would
have found the young bud tucked safely away beneath the hollow
end of the leafstalk. This leafstalk fitted over it more neatly than a
candle snuffer over a candle (Fig. 131).
Fig. 131
Try this for yourselves next summer. I think you will be pleased
with this pretty arrangement.
We learned that the potato, even though it is buried in the earth
and does not look like it, is really one of the thickened stems of the
potato plant.
The “eyes” of the potato look as little like buds as the potato itself
looks like a stem. Yet these “eyes” are true buds; for, if we leave our
potatoes in the dark cellar till spring, the “eyes” will send out slender
shoots in the same way that the buds on the branches of trees send
out young shoots.
As I told you before, the usual place for a bud is just between the
stem and the leafstalk, or the scar left by the leafstalk; but if a stem
is cut or wounded, oftentimes it sends out buds in other than the
usual places.
This habit accounts for the growth of young shoots from stumps of
trees, and from parts of the plant which ordinarily do not give birth to
buds.
Some buds never open while fastened to the stem of the parent
plant; but after a time they fall to the ground, strike root, and send up
a fresh young plant.
The tiger lily, the plant that grows so often in old gardens, bears
such buds as these. We call them “bulblets” when they act in this
strange fashion.
Perhaps even more surprising than this is the fact that leaves
sometimes produce buds.
Fig. 132