Unit III

Uniform OR Rectangular Distribution

The Uniform Distribution is a Continuous Probability Distribution that is commonly applied when the possible
outcomes of an event are bound on an interval yet all values are equally likely.

If X has uniform distribution in (3, 3), nd P(|X  2| < 2) (Ans: 0.5)

The time spent waiting for a bus is uniformly distributed between 0 and 5 minutes. What is the probability
that a person will wait at most 3 minutes for the bus? (Ans: 0.6)

A passenger arrives at a bus stop at 10 am, knowing that the bus will arrive at some time uniformly distributed
between 10 am and 10.30 am. What is the probability that he will have to wait longer than 10 min? (Ans: 2/3)

If the RV k is uniformly distributed over (0, 5) what is the probability that the roots of the equation 4x2 +
4kx + (k + 2) = 0 are real? (Ans: 3/5)

Buses arrive at a specied stop at 15 min. intervals starting at 7 am that is, they arrive at 7, 7:15, 7:30, 7:45, and
so on. If a passenger arrives at the stop at a random time that is uniformly distributed between 7 and 7:30 am,
nd the probability that he waits. (Ans: 1/3, 1/5)
(a) less than 5 min for a bus, and (b) at least 12 min for a bus

The RVs a and b are independently and uniformly distributed in the intervals (0, 6) and (0, 9) respectively.
Find the probability that the roots of the equation x2  ax + b = 0 are real. (Ans:1/3)

A random variable X has a uniform distribution over (-3, 3). Find i) P(X=2), P(|X| < 2)

A random variable X is uniformly distributed with mean 1 and variance 4/3 . Find P(X < 0)?

Binomial Distribution
Out of 800 families with 4 children each, how many families would be expected to have (a) 2 boys and 2 girls,
(b) at least 1 boy, (c) at most 2 girls, and (d) children of both sexes. Assume equal probabilities for boys and
girls (Ans: 300, 750, 550, 700)

Suppose four dice are tossed. What is the probability that at most one 6 appears? (Ans: 0.868)

A multiple choice exam has six problems, each of which has three possible answers. What is the probability
that John will get four or more correct answers by just guessing? (Ans: 0.115)

The probability of a man hitting a target is 1/4 . (i) If he res 7 times, what is the probability of his hit-
ting the target at least twice? How many times must he re so that the probability of his hitting the target at
least once is greater than 2/3? (Ans: 0.5551, 4)

One out of 5 students at a local college say that they skip breakfast in the morning. Find the mean, vari-
ance and standard deviation if 10 students are randomly selected.

Two dice are thrown 120 times. Find the average number of times in which the number of the rst dice ex-
ceeds the number on the second dice. (Ans: 50)

Studies indicate that 40% of marriages end in divorce, where it is assumed that divorces are independent of
each other. Out of 10 married couples, determine the following probabilities: a) That only the Arthurs and the
Martins will stay married. b) That exactly 2 of the 10 couples will stay married

1
If the probability that an individual suers a bad reaction from an injection of a given serum is 0.001, determine
the probability that out of 500 individuals i) exactly 3, ii) more than 2 individuals suer from bad reaction(Ans:
0.1255, 0.1913)

A radioactive source emits on the average 2.5 particles per second. Find the probability that 3 or more par-
ticles will be emitted in an interval of 4s. (Ans: 0.0028)

If 3% of the electric bulbs manufactured by a company are defective, nd the probability that in a sample of
100 bulbs, (a) 0, (b) 1, (c) 2, (d) 3, (e) 4, (f) 5 bulbs will be defective.

The number of trac tickets that a certain trac ocer gives out on any day has been shown to have a Poisson
distribution with a mean of 7.
a. What is the probability that on one particular day the ocer gave out no ticket?
b. What is the probability that she gives out fewer than 4 tickets in one day?

The marks obtained by a number of students in a certain subject are as sumed to be approximately normally
distributed with mean 55 and a SD of 5. If 5 students are taken at random from this set, what is the probability
that 3 of them would have scored marks above 60? (Ans: 0.0283)

For X Rayleigh distributed with variance = 4, nd (a) P(1 ≤ X ≤ 3), (b) P(X ≤ 4 or X > 3), and (c) P(X
> 4 or X ≤ 3).

A RV X has mean 10 and variance 16. Find a lower bound for P{5 < X < 15}. (Ans: 9/25)

1 3 1
A discrete RV X takes the values 1, 0, 1 with probabilities
, , respectively. Evaluate P{|X  µ| ≥ 2σ }
8 4 8
and compare it with the upper bound given by Tchebyche's inequality. (Ans: 1/4)

A fair dice is tossed 720 times. Use Tchebyche's inequality to nd a lower bound for the probability of get-
ting 100 to 140 sixes. (Ans: 3/4)

A random variable X has pdf f(x) = e−x , x ≥ 0. Use Tchebyche's inequality to show that P{|X  1| > 1}
< 1/4 and show also that the actual probability is e−3

2
Find the MGF of a RV which is uniformly distributed over (1, 2) andhence nd its mean and variance.
e3t − 1
(Ans: , 1/2 , 3/4)
3tet
If X represents the outcome, when a fair die is tossed, nd the MGF of X and hence nd E(X) and Var(X).
(Ans: 3.5, 35/12)

The annual rainfall in inches in a certain region has a normal distribution with a mean of 40 and variance of
16. What is the probability that the rain-fall in a given year is between 30 and 48 inches?

If X is normally distributed with mean 5 and standard deviation 2, nd P(X > 8) (Ans:0.0668)

The weights of parcels that are dropped o at a local shipping center can be represented by a random vari-
able X that is normally distributed with mean µX = 70 and standard deviation σ X = 10. Determine the following:
a. P[X > 50]. b. P[X < 60]. c. P[60 < X < 90]