ENGM2032, Applied Probability and Statistics

Fall 2016

Assignment #1
Due: Thu Sep 22, 2016
1) The fuel economy of two small cars is being studied by driving 15 of each in different conditions
and recording the fuel consumed. The resulting fuel economies, in litres/100 km, are as follows;
Car A: 5.0 5.4 5.2 4.7 6.1 5.6 5.1 5.1 4.8 5.6 5.3 4.3 5.8 5.2 4.8
Car B: 5.7 6.1 4.7 5.2 5.3 5.7 5.6 5.3 6.7 5.8 6.2 5.6 5.6 6.2 5.7
For each car, compute
a) the sample mean,
b) the sample standard deviation, and
c) the sample median
of the fuel economy.
d) Based on these results, which car do you think performs the best? Why? (Here, you
will only be expected to give your best opinion. Later, we will investigate more formal
approaches to answering this question.)
2) One of the advantages that concrete structures have over steel structures is fire resistance (which
is to say, steel becomes weak when heated). The time, T , that it takes a steel girder to reach
certain temperature (where its strength becomes too low to support its load) in a fire is, however,
random. Suppose that for design code development, the following data has been gathered on
the time T in hours:
0.736, 0.863, 0.865, 0.913, 0.915, 0.937, 0.983, 1.007,
1.011, 1.064, 1.109, 1.132, 1.140, 1.153, 1.253, 1.394
a) Compute the values of the sample mean and the sample median.
b) By how much could the smallest sample observation be increased without affecting the
value of the sample median?
c) By how much could the smallest sample observation be increased without affecting the
value of the sample mean?
3) The efficiency of a UV disinfectant is under investigation. Three water samples are taken from
a lake and treated in succession. Let C denote the event that a sample is treated successfully
(i.e. it conforms with the existing drinking water quality standards), so that C c is the event that
a sample is treated unsuccessfully. Thus, for example, one possible outcome is CC c C, which
means that the first and last samples are treated successfully while the second is not.
a) List the elements of the sample space of all possible outcomes of treating the three water
samples.
b) List the elements that constitute each of the following events;
A1 : at least one sample is treated successfully,
A2 : all three samples are treated successfully,
A3 : only one sample is treated successfully.
c) Are A1 and A2 disjoint? Why or why not?
d) Are A1 and A3 disjoint? Why or why not?

ENGM2032, Applied Probability and Statistics

Assignment #1

Fall 2016: pg 2

e) Are A2 and A3 disjoint? Why or why not?

f) List the sample points that constitute each of the following events and describe the events
in words (for example, for Ac1 you might say all samples are treated unsuccessfully):
i) Ac1
ii) Ac3

[ A3
A2 \ A3
A1 \ A2 \
(A2 [ A3 )c
A1 \ Ac1

iii) A2
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)

Ac3

4) There are concerns about the performance of a juice dispenser. Specifically, it is suspected that
the actual amount of juice dispensed deviates too much from the target amount of 250 ml. A
number of juice containers are filled and the amounts dispensed are examined.

a) A container is considered to be a success (S) if it contains 250  3 ml of juice; otherwise

it is considered to be a failure (F ). Four containers are filled and examined in succession.
List the elements of the sample space.

b) Let Ai , i = 1, 2, 3, 4 denote the event that the ith container is a success. List the sample
points that constitute each of the events A1 , A2 , A3 , and A4 . Are these events mutually
exclusive (disjoint)?
c) List the sample points that constitute each of the following events and describe the events
in words:
i) Ac1

ii) A1 [ A2

iii) A1 \ A2

iv) A1 \ A2 \ A3 \ A4
v) A1 \ A2 \ A3 \ Ac4

vi) (A1 [ A2 [ A3 [ A4 )c
5) An environmental engineering firm is currently working on emergency assessment of the levels
of chemical pollution at three different sites. Let Ai denote the event that the assessment of
site i is completed within two hours. Using only set-theoretic language (i.e. using only Ai ,
i = 1, 2, 3, and \, [, and Ac for the complement of the set A) describe each of the following
events. In each case, also draw a Venn diagram and shade the region corresponding to the
event.
a) At least one site is assessed within two hours.
b) All sites are assessed within two hours.
c) Only site 1 is assessed within two hours.
d) Exactly one site is assessed within two hours.
e) Either only site 1 or only both of the other two sites are assessed within two hours.