AP Statistics

Galena Park High School

Chapter 5. Practice Problems

Math Department

The Binomial Probability Distribution

Name

(S)

Period:

Date:

1. Identify each of the random variables as continuous or discrete.

(a) The number of cows in a pasture
(b) The number of electrons in a molecule
(c) The voltage on a power line
(d) The volume of milk given by a cow per milking
(e) The distance from Cape Canaveral to a point chosen at random in the Sea of Tranquillity on
the moon
(f) The number of words in a book chosen at random

(S)

4. A franchise chain of small grocery stores has kept records of the number of bad checks passed in
its stores. They used the data to get a probability distribution for the number of bad checks passed
in a store each week. In the table below x = number of bad checks and P(x) is the probability that x
bad checks will be passed in a week.
x

P(x)

0.3

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.1

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Calculate the expected number of bad checks the chain will get in one week.
Calculate the standard deviation for the number of bad checks.
What is the probability that two or more bad checks will be passed in a week?
What is the probability that no bad checks will be passed in a week?

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AP Statistics. Chapter 5. Review Problems

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(S)

7. A local cab company is interested in the number of pieces of luggage a cab carries on a taxi run. A
random sample of 260 taxi runs gave the following information.
x = number of pieces of luggage and f is the frequency with which taxi runs carried x pieces of
luggage.
x

10

42

51

63

38

19

16

12

10

(a) Find the probability distribution for x.

(b) Make a histogram of the probability distribution.
(c) Estimate the probability that a taxi run will have from 0 to 4 pieces of luggage (including 0
and 4).
(d) Compute the expected value of x.
(e) Compute the standard deviation for x.

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Galena Park High School

(S)

9. Reggie Richman has a poor driving record and must take out a special insurance policy. He wants
to insure his $58,000 sports car. Based on previous driving records, AnyState has estimated the
probability of various levels of loss per year as indicated in the table below. x = dollar amount of
loss. The company will pay no benefits for any other partial losses.
% of loss

100

50

25

10

58,000

29,000

14,500

5,800

P(x)

0.05

0.12

0.28

0.42

0.13

(a) Calculate the expected loss on Reggies car.

(b) How much should AnyState charge Reggie for insurance if it wants to make a profit of $1,000
on his policy.

(S) 11. The student senate is sponsoring a car raffle to raise money to buy playground equipment for
disadvantaged children. The senate received a donated car worth $7,000 and sold 3750 raffle
tickets at $5 each.
(a) If you buy 10 tickets, what is the probability that you will win the car? What is the probability
that you will not win the car?
(b) Compute your expected earnings. (Your expected earnings is the product of the value of the
car and the probability that you will win it.)
(c) How much did you contribute to the playground fund? (The amount of the contribution is the
difference between what you paid for the tickets and your expected earnings.)

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(S) 13. To estimate the number of books required for a course, the student council at Lees Field College
took a random sample of 100 courses and obtained the information below. x = number of books
and f = number of courses requiring x books.
x

48

22

11

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Make a table showing the probability distribution for the number of required books.
Make a histogram of the probability distribution.
Find the expected number of books per course and the standard deviation.
If the average book costs $42 and you take 5 courses, how much can you expect to spend for
books?

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(S) 21. For a particular lake in the U.S., the following table shows the percentage of fishermen who
caught x number of fish during a 6-hour period while fishing from shore.
x

3 or more

52

27

14

(a) Find the probability that a fisherman selected at random fishing from shore catches one or
more fish during a 6-hour period.
(b) Find the probability that a fisherman selected at random fishing from shore catches two or
more fish during a 6-hour period.
(c) Compute , the expected value of the number of fish caught per fisherman in a 6-hour period
(round 3 or more to 3). Round to two decimal places.
(d) Compute , the standard deviation of the number of fish caught per fisherman in a 6-hour
period (round 3 or more to 3). Round to two decimal places.

(S) 22. Eric teaches ceramics in his studio. He estimates that one out of every five people who call for
information about a class will sign up for the class. Last week he received nine calls. Find the
probability that four or fewer of the people who called will sign up for a class.

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(S) 24. In Summit County 65% of the voter population are Republicans. What is the probability that a
random sample of ten Summit County voters will contain:
(a) Exactly eight Republicans?
(b) Exactly two Republicans?
(c) No Republicans?
(d) All Republicans?

(S) 29. Martha estimates the probability that she will receive at least one marketing telephone call at home
during the hours of 5pm to 7pm on a weekday night to be 2/3. Use the formulas for computing
binomial probabilities to answer the following questions:
(a) What is the probability that she will receive at least one call on all five of the next five
weekday nights?
(b) What is the probability that she will not receive a call on any of the next five weekday nights?
(c) What is the probability that she will receive a call on at least four of the next five weekday
nights?

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(S) 31. The probability of an adverse reaction to a pneumonia shot is 0.15. Pneumonia shots are given to
a group of 12 people.
(a) What is the probability that none of them will have an adverse reaction to the pneumonia
shot?
(b) What is the probability that more than half of them will have an adverse reaction to the
pneumonia shot?
(c) What is the probability that 1 or fewer of the 12 people have an adverse reaction to the
pneumonia shot?
(d) What is the probability that two or more of them will have an adverse reaction to the
pneumonia shot?

(S) 41. Sam is a computer salesman who has a history of making successful calls one-fourth of the time.
(a) What is the probability that he will be successful on at least three of the next five calls?
(b) What is the probability that he will be successful on none of the next five calls?

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(M) 42. In rolling two fair dice simultaneously, the probability of rolling a 7 or 11 is 29 . What is the
approximate probability of rolling a 7 or 11 two or more times in ten rolls of two dice?

(M) 45. Assume that 67% of the cars on a particular freeway are traveling faster than 70 miles per hour. A
random sample of 15 cars was observed under normal driving conditions with no police car in
sight. What is the probability that 8 or more of them were going faster than 70 miles per hour?

(S) 49. In the past year, Valentinos Pizza Restaurant grossed more than $1500 a day for about 70% of its
business days. During the next 8 business days, what is the probability (rounded to two decimal
places) that Valentinos will gross more than $1500 a day for
(a) 7 or more days?
(b) 5 or more days?
(c) less than 4 days?

(S) 55. Jim is an automobile salesman at Courtesy Cars, Incorporated. He has a history of making a sale
for about 15% of all prospective customers that he takes for a test drive. On most days he takes
about 8 prospects for test drives. Let r be the number of sales on the days when Jim has eight
customers.
(a) Find P(r) for r = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
(b) Make a histogram for the r probability distribution.
(c) What is the expected number of cars Jim will sell on the days when he has eight prospective
customers?
(d) What is the standard deviation of the r probability distribution?

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(S) 60. A statewide survey of adults found that only 40% linked the greenhouse effect with the
phenomenon of global warming. Suppose 20 adults of the region were asked about the greenhouse
effect.
(a) What is the probability that fewer than 5 of them linked the greenhouse effect to global
warming?
(b) What is the probability that 16 or more of them linked the greenhouse effect to global
warming?
(c) What is the expected number of people in this group who would see the connection between
the greenhouse effect and global warming?

(S) 67. Over the past several years Ms. Carver has determined that she makes a successful sales call about
20% of the time. What is the minimum number of calls Ms. Carver must make to be at least 89%
sure of making at least one sale?

(S) 68. Derrick scores on 70% of the free throws he attempts in basketball. What is the minimal number
of free throws he must attempt to be at least 89% sure of making at least 2 of the free throws?

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(S) 73. Ben sells insurance out of an office downtown. He estimates that 30% of the people he talks to
end up buying insurance from him. Based on this estimation, what is the least number of people
Ben should talk to so that his expected number of new clients number is at least 15?

(S) 79. Richard has volunteered to help with his colleges telefund. His sales experience leads him to
believe that he has a 65% chance of getting the person he calls to donate to the college. What is
the probability that his first donation will not come before his third call?

(S) 81. Inquiries at the reference desk of the library occur at the rate of 4 per hour during Sunday
afternoons.
(a) What is the probability that there will be exactly 5 inquiries in a 2 hour period on next Sunday
afternoon?
(b) What is the probability that there will be no inquiries in a half hour period on a Sunday
afternoon?
(c) What is the probability that there will be at least one inquiry during a half hour period on
Sunday afternoon?

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(S) 83. A loom which produces plaid wool fabric is known to produce, on the average, one noticeable
flaw per 20 yards of fabric.
(a) What is the probability that there will be exactly two flaws in a twenty-yard piece of the wool?
(b) What is the probability that there will be no flaws in a five-yard piece of the wool?

(S) 85. Telephone calls come in to the mathematics department office at the rate of 5 per hour.
(a) Find the probability that there will be no calls in the next ten minutes.
(b) Find the probability that there will be one or more calls in the next 10 minutes.

(S) 89. The probability of getting a three when you throw a single die is 1/6. You throw the die repeatedly
stopping when you get a three.
(a) What is the probability that you will get a three on or before the third throw?
(b) What is the probability that you will not get a three until after the third throw?

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(S) 93. The probability that a new tire will have a blow-out during the first six months of use is 0.004.
(a) Estimate the probability that exactly 4 tires in a random sample of 800 tires will have a blowout during the first six months of use.
(b) Estimate the probability that none of the tires is a random sample of 800 tires will have a
blow-out during the first six months of use.

(S) 97. The probability of finding a gold nugget in an ore sample in a particular location is estimated to be
0.0015. 200 independent samples are taken.
(a) Estimate the probability of finding no gold nuggets in the 200 samples.
(b) Estimate the probability of finding one or more gold nuggets in the 200 samples.

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(S) 99. Fred is taking a mathematics course this semester which on average fails about 40% of students
who take it. Let n = 1, 2, 3, represent the number of times a student takes this particular math
course until the first passing grade is received. Assume the trials are independent.
(a) Write out a formula for the probability distribution of the random variable n.
(b) What is the probability that Fred passes on the first try (n = 1)?
(c) What is the probability that Fred passes on the second try (n = 2)?
(d) What is the probability that Fred needs three or more tries to pass this particular mathematics
course?
(e) What is the expected number of attempts at this particular mathematics course Fred must
make to pass? Hint: Use for the geometric distribution and round.

(M)101. In a small town in the midwest United states, 43% of the towns current residents were born in the
town. Use the geometric distribution to estimate the probability of not meeting a native to the town
until the fourth person you meet.

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(M)102. In a small town in the midwest United States, 43% of the towns current residents were born in the
town. Use the geometric distribution to estimate the probability of meeting a native to the town
among the first four people that are met.

(M)105. At a city council mixer, it was commonly known that approximately 65% of the attendees were
members of the Republican Party. Use the geometric distribution to estimate the probability of not
meeting a Republican Party member until youve met three people.

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