EM 1203 Engineering Data Analysis

Assignment on Discrete and Continuous Probability Distributions

Due on or before 12 noon Monday, May 20, 2019 at DEEE Office
Instructions: (1) Be sure to write your name and schedule in each of your answer sheet.
(2) Use long size bond papers as answer sheets.
(3) Do not write back to back.
(4) Since answers were given already, solutions will be strictly checked
as well as the neatness of presenting solutions (erasures will be deducted
accordingly)

1. In a certain city district, the need for money to buy drugs is stated as the reason for 75% of all thefts.
Find the probability that among the next 5 theft cases reported in this district,
(a) exactly 2 resulted from the need for money to buy drugs; 0.0879
(b) at most 3 resulted from the need for money to buy drugs. 0.3672

2. One prominent physician claims that 70% of those with lung cancer are chain smokers. If his assertion
is correct,
a) find the probability that of 10 such patients recently admitted to a hospital, fewer than half are chain
smokers; 0.0474
b) find the probability that of 20 such patients recently admitted to a hospital, fewer than half are chain
smokers. 0.0171

3. To avoid detection at customs, a traveler places 6 narcotic tablets in a bottle containing 9 vitamin
tablets that are similar in appearance. If the customs official selects 3 of the tablets at random for
analysis, what is the probability that the traveler will be arrested for illegal possession of narcotics?
53/65

4. A random committee of size 3 is selected from 4 doctors and 2 nurses. Write a formula for the
probability distribution of the random variable X representing the number of doctors on the committee.
Find P(2 ≤ X ≤ 3). 4/5

5. From a lot of 10 missiles, 4 are selected at random and fired. If the lot contains 3 defective missiles
that will not fire, what is the probability that
(a) all 4 will fire? 1/6
(b) at most 2 will not fire? 29/30

6. An inventory study determines that, on average, demands for a particular item at a warehouse are
made 5 times per day. What is the probability that on a given day this item is requested (a)
more than 5 times? 0.3840 (b) not at all? 0.0067

7. On average, 3 traffic accidents per month occur at a certain intersection. What is the probability that
in any given month at this intersection
(a) exactly 5 accidents will occur? 0.1008
(b) fewer than 3 accidents will occur? 0.4232
(c) at least 2 accidents will occur? 0.8009
8. On average, a textbook author makes two word processing errors per page on the first draft of her
textbook. What is the probability that on the next page she will make
(a) 4 or more errors? 0.1429
(b) no errors? 0.1353

9. The daily amount of coffee, in liters, dispensed by a machine located in an airport lobby is a random
variable X having a continuous uniform distribution with A = 7 and B = 10. Find the probability that on
a given day the amount of coffee dispensed by this machine will be
(a) at most 8.8 liters; 0.60
(b) more than 7.4 liters but less than 9.5 liters; 0.70
(c) at least 8.5 liters. 0.50

10. A bus arrives every 10 minutes at a bus stop. It is assumed that the waiting time for a particular
individual is a random variable with a continuous uniform distribution.
(a) What is the probability that the individual waits more than 7 minutes? 0.3
(b) What is the probability that the individual waits between 2 and 7 minutes? 0.5

11. Given a normal distribution with μ = 30 and σ = 6, find

(a) the normal curve area to the right of x = 17; 0.9850
(b) the normal curve area to the left of x = 22; 0.0918
(c) the normal curve area between x = 32 and x = 41; 0.3371
(d) the value of x that has 80% of the normal curve area to the left; 35.04
(e) the two values of x that contain the middle 75% of the normal curve area.
x1 = 23.1; x2 = 36.9

12. A soft-drink machine is regulated so that it discharges an average of 200 milliliters per cup. If the
amount of drink is normally distributed with a standard deviation equal to 15 milliliters,
(a) what fraction of the cups will contain more than 224 milliliters? 0.0548
(b) what is the probability that a cup contains between 191 and 209 milliliters? 0.4544
(c) how many cups will probably overflow if 230- milliliter cups are used for the next 1000 drinks?
Approximately 23 cups
(d) below what value do we get the smallest 25% of the drinks? 189.95 milliliters

13. A lawyer commutes daily from his suburban home to his midtown office. The average time for a
one-way trip is 24 minutes, with a standard deviation of 3.8 minutes. Assume the distribution of trip
times to be normally distributed.
(a) What is the probability that a trip will take at least 1/2 hour? 0.0571
(b) If the office opens at 9:00 A.M. and the lawyer leaves his house at 8:45 A.M. daily, what percentage
of the time is he late for work? 99.11%
(c) If he leaves the house at 8:35 A.M. and coffee is served at the office from 8:50 A.M. until 9:00 A.M.,
what is the probability that he misses coffee? 0.3971
(d) Find the length of time above which we find the slowest 15% of the trips. 27.952 minutes
(e) Find the probability that 2 of the next 3 trips will take at least 1/2 hour. 0.0092
14. The IQs of 600 applicants to a certain college are approximately normally distributed with a mean
of 115 and a standard deviation of 12. If the college requires an IQ of at least 95, how many of these
students will be rejected on this basis of IQ, regardless of their other qualifications? Note that IQs are
recorded to the nearest integers. 26 students will be rejected

15. The length of time for one individual to be served at a cafeteria is a random variable having an
exponential distribution with a mean of 4 minutes. What is the probability that a person is served in
less than 3 minutes on at least 4 of the next 6 days? 0.5276

16. The life, in years, of a certain type of electrical switch has an exponential distribution with an
average life β = 2. If 100 of these switches are installed in different systems, what is the probability that
at most 30 fail during the first year? 0.3935