Ch 5 Normal Distributions

1 DH/2008/II/10
A confectionary produces durian and mango cakes with individual weights X g and Y g,
distributed normally with means μx = 800 and μy = 600, and variances σx2 = 250 and σy2 = 200
respectively.
(i) Ms Marian ordered one durian cake and one mango cake. Write down the
probability that the durian cake weighs more than 800 g and the mango cake
weighs less than 600 g.
(ii) Find the probability that three randomly chosen durian cakes weigh more than
four randomly chosen mango cakes by more than 50 g.
(iii) State the condition you have used in your calculations.
Ans : (i)0.25 (ii) 0.102

2 ACJC/2008/II/11
A fruit grower grows both red and green apples which have masses that are normally distributed.
The mass of a randomly chosen red apple has mean 75g and standard deviation 12.5g. The mass
of a
randomly chosen green apple has mean of 55g and standard deviation 10.5g.
(i) Find the probability that the total mass of 3 randomly chosen green apples exceeds twice
the mean mass of 3 randomly chosen red apples.
(ii) A red apple is considered “underweight” if it weighs less than 70g. Red apples are
packed into bags of 10 for transportation to a supermarket. A bag is considered to have
passed the quality test if it contains less than 2 “underweight” apples. Calculate the
probability that in a randomly chosen batch of 20 bags of red apples, all the bags fail the
quality test.
Ans : (i) 0.741 (ii) 0.147

3 CJC/2008/II/9
A student reaches the bus-stop outside his house at 7:20am every morning to take a bus to
school and has to reach his school by 7:40am. Assume that the waiting time for his bus is
normally distributed with mean 8 minutes and variance 5 minutes 2 , and the journey time is
normally distributed with mean 11 minutes and variance 4 minutes 2 .

(i) Find the probability that he will take more than 20 minutes to reach school (i.e. late for
school) on a randomly chosen day.
(ii) In a month of 30 days, what is the expected number of days he will be late for school?
(iii) Find the latest time he would have to reach the bus-stop outside his house so that the
probability of him being late for school is less than 5%.
(iv) Find the probability that the average time taken to travel from the bus-stop outside his house
(including waiting for the bus) to school in 30 days is between 15 to 20 minutes.
Ans :(i) 0.369, (ii) 11 days, (iii) 7:16am (iv) 0.966

4 AJC/2008/II/10
The lifespan of a halogen bulb is normally distributed with mean 160 hours with standard
deviation 10 hours, while the lifespan of a fluorescent bulb is normally distributed with mean
240 hours and standard deviation 12 hours. The lifespan of any bulb is independent of one
another.
(i) A halogen bulb is randomly chosen. Find the greatest value of a, correct to three
significant figures, if the probability that its lifespan lies in the range of (160-a,
 160+a) is at most 0.4.
(ii) Find the probability that the difference between the average lifespan of two
fluorescent
bulbs and twice the lifespan of a halogen bulb does not exceed 70 hours.
(iii) The halogen bulbs are packed in boxes of n bulbs, where n is large. If there are more
than 10 bulbs that have lifespans of less than 150 hours, the box will be rejected. Using
a suitable approximation, find the greatest value of n so that the probability that a box
will be rejected is less than 0.2.
Ans : (i) a = 5.24 (3s. f ) (ii) 0.323 (iii) 52

5 HCI/2008/II/11
A customer can order a regular 500 ml cup drink or a double 1000 ml cup drink from a vending
machine. To make a regular cup drink, the vending machine dispenses once, while to make a
double cup drink, the vending machine actually dispenses twice. Drinks which dispense from
the vending machine follow a normal distribution with mean μ ml and standard deviation 20 ml.
The amounts that are successively dispensed are independent.
(a) Find the set of values for μ so that at most 1% of regular cups overflow.
(b) It is later found that μ = 470 . Find the probability that
(i) a regular cup will overflow,
(ii) no overflow occurs if the customer orders 2 regular size drinks,
(iii) for a double cup, no overflow occurs,
(iv) more than 20 cups overflowed if 300 cups of 500 ml are dispensed in one
day, by using a suitable approximation.
Ans : μ ≤ 453 (3 s.f.) 0.0668; 0.871; 0.983 ; 0.458

6 IJC/2008/II/12
A child is playing with a large set of wooden and plastic cubes. The random variable W denotes
the length, in cm, of the edge of a wooden cube which is normally distributed with mean 7 and
standard deviation σ . The length, in cm, of the edge of a plastic cube is an independent normal
variable with mean 8 and standard deviation 0.1.
Given that 25P(W < 5) = P(W < 9) , find the value of σ , giving your answer correct to 3
significant figures.
(i) The child picks two wooden cubes and one plastic cube at random and places them on top
of each other in a box with a hinged lid. Find, correct to 2 decimal places, the smallest depth
of the box for there to be a 95% probability that the lid will close fully.

(ii) Find the probability the sum of the length of the edges of three randomly chosen wooden
cubes exceeds twice the length of the edge of one randomly chosen plastic cube by at least
6.2 cm.

(iii) 200 plastic cubes are chosen at random. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability
that at most 10 of them are longer than 8.2 cm.
Ans : (i) Smallest depth is 24.63 (2 d.p.) (ii) 0.271 (3s.f); 0.993

7 NYJC/2008/II/10
The weights of boys in a certain age group are normally distributed, with mean 52 kg and
standard deviation σ kg. The weights of girls in the same age group are normally distributed,
with mean μ kg and standard deviation 5 kg. On average, 1 in 25 randomly chosen boys weighs
 less than 45 kg; and 2 in 25 randomly chosen girls weigh more that 49 kg.
(i) Find the value of μ and σ correct to 3 significant figures.
(ii) Find the probability that the weight of two randomly chosen boys is more than thrice the
weight of a randomly chosen girl.
(iii) Find the probability that the mean weight of 10 girls chosen is less than 41 kg.
(iv) 50 boys are chosen randomly. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability that at
least 46 boys are heavier than 46 kg.
Ans : (i) μ = 42.0 ; σ = 4.00 (ii) 0.0850 (iii) 0.264 (iv) 0.755

8 NJC/2008/II/10
Song Car Rental has a fleet of 50 cars. These cars have to be serviced at the end of the year. The
costs of servicing a randomly chosen car at two available workshops A and B are normally
distributed with means and standard deviations as follow:

Mean Standard Deviation

Workshop A $240 $30
Workshop B $265 $10

(i) The owner of the car rental company decided that he would employ workshop A if there
is a probability of at least 0.8 that the cost of servicing a randomly chosen car by A does
not
exceed $α. Find the least integer value of α.
(ii) In an anniversary promotion, workshop B gives a discount of $60 to every car serviced.
Find the probability that a randomly chosen car will cost less than $200 to be serviced
by B.

The owner decided to employ workshop B to service all his cars. Using a suitable
approximation, determine the probability that more than 20 of his cars will cost less than
$200 each to service.
Ans : (i) 266 ; (ii) 0.309 ; 0.0602

9 RJC/2008/2/12
A factory manufactures a large number of containers with press-on lids. The diameter of a
randomly chosen lid is X cm, where X follows a normal distribution with mean 12.1 and
standard deviation 0.03. The diameter of the top of a randomly chosen container into which
the lid is pressed is Y cm, where Y follows an independent normal distribution with mean
12.0 and standard deviation 0.03.

(a) Find the probability that the sum of the diameters of 3 randomly chosen lids and
twice the diameter of the top of a randomly chosen container is less than 60.5 cm. [4]

(b) A lid and a container are chosen randomly and paired. A pairing is accepted if
0.02 < X − Y < 0.17 and discarded otherwise.

(i) Find the probability that a pairing is accepted. [3]

(ii) Estimate the number of trials required to obtain 2000 accepted pairings.
 [2]
Ans: (a) 0.994, (b) (i) 0.921, ii) 2172

10 HCI/2009//II/12
In a typical 5-day work week (from Monday to Friday), Andy leaves home for work at 7.00 a.m.
He travels to the pick-up point where buses A and B are scheduled to pick him up to his
workplace. The time needed for him to travel to the pick-up point follows a normal distribution
with a mean of 18 minutes and a standard deviation of 4 minutes.

The schedule for the pick-up time for the buses A and B is as follows:

Bus Time of departure from the pick-up point

A 7.15 a.m.
B 7.25 a.m.

Andy takes the earliest departing bus when he arrives at the pick-up point. Assume that the
time needed for him to board the bus is negligible.

(i) Show that the probability that Andy takes bus B to his work place is 0.733, correct to
3 significant figures. [1]

(ii) By using a suitable approximation, find the probability that Andy takes either buses
on at most 36 occasions in eight consecutive work weeks. [4]

(iii) Find the probability that the average time taken for Andy to travel to the pick-up
point for the first two days of the week exceeds the average time taken for the last
three days of the same week by less than 5 minutes. [3]

(iv) Andy intends to leave his home earlier so that the probability of him taking bus A is
at least 0.90. Find the latest time that he should leave his home? Give your answer
correct to the nearest minute. [3]
Ans: (i) 0.733; (ii) 0.0791; (iii) 0.415; (iv) a ≥ 8.126 , Thus he should leave his home at least 9
mins earlier. i.e his latest time to leave home is 6.51 a.m.

11 MJC/2009/II/12
(a) The height, X cm, of boys in a school may be assumed to follow a normal distribution
with
mean μ and variance σ 2 .
Given that P ( X < 155 ) = P ( X > 185 ) = 0.025 , find the values of μ and σ 2 . [4]
Hence, find the probability that

(i) the total height of two randomly chosen boys exceeds twice the height of a third
randomly chosen boy by at least 5 cm.
[2]

(ii) the mean height of 50 randomly chosen boys is less than 172 cm. [2]
(b) The mass of a randomly chosen box of hamster food has mean μ g and standard deviation
5 g. A large sample of n boxes is taken. Find the least value of n such that
 ( )
P X − μ < 1 > 0.99 where X is the sample mean.
[4]
Ans: (a) µ = 170, σ = 58.6, a(i) 0.394, (ii) 0.968; (b) 166
2