MA2110/2111

EXERCISE SHEET 1
1. Decide which of the four scales the following measurements belong.
(a) Amount of annual rainfall in Australia.
(b) Time as a continuum.
(c) Time when measured as in the amount of time it takes to do a job.
(d) The students are categorized according to the state they come from.
(e) The amount of fat in different brands of hotdogs.
(f) Temperature measured in the three scales.
2. Compute the mean, median, mode, variance, standard deviation and the interquartile
range for the following sample data set. Draw a boxplot
-1, 2, 3, 0, 7, -6, 21, 3, 4, 10, -3, 3, 7, -25, -10
3. Draw a stem-and-leaf plot for the following data set. Also compute the first and third
quartiles.
69, 84, 52, 93, 61, 74, 79, 65, 88, 63, 57, 64, 67, 72, 74, 55, 82, 61, 68, 77
4. Group the following data and construct a frequency-cumulative frequency table with class
intervals of length 4, lower limit of the first interval being 5.0. Also, draw a histogram.
15.8 26.4 17.3 11.2 23.9 24.8 18.7 13.9 9.0 13.2
22.7 9.8 6.2 14.7 17.5 26.1 12.8 28.6 17.6 23.7
26.8 22.7 18.0 20.5 11.0 20.9 15.5 19.4 16.7 10.7
19.1 15.2 22.9 26.6 20.4 21.4 19.2 21.6 16.9 19.0
18.5 23.0 24.6 20.1 16.2 18.0 7.7 13.5 23.5 14.5
14.4 29.6 19.4 17.0 20.8 24.3 22.5 24.6 18.4 18.1
8.3 21.9 12.3 22.3 13.3 11.8 19.3 20.0 25.7 31.8
25.9 10.5 15.9 27.5 18.1 17.9 9.4 24.1 20.1 28.5
5.
a. Compute the mean and variance for the grouped data in Question 4.
b. Compute the mean and variance for the raw data in Question 4.
c. Compare the results of (a) and (b). Is there too much inaccuracy due to
grouping?
6. Get a cumulative frequency column for the following data and find the mean median and
mode.
x f
1 16
2 25
3 13
4 4
5 12
6 12
7. Consider the following data:
2.59, -1.27, 0.31, 1.18, -2.23, 0.19, -1.94, 0.01, -1.31, 0.74, 1.95, -0.74, 3.76, 5.94, -2.63
(i) Use the empirical rule to find intervals where 68% and 95% of the observations will lie:
(ii) Check if your answers are in agreement with the data.
MA2110/2111
EXERCISE SHEET 2
1. Find the number of ways a family of seven can be seated in a row
so that the parents sit next to each other.
2. Compute
a.
P
12 3 ,
b.
C
100 98 ,
c.
1870
1868
!
!
3. How many 4-card hands can be chosen from a 52-card deck?
How many of these will not have any aces in it? How many will
have all aces?
4. How many different car number plates are possible with exactly 4
letters and 3 digits if
a. the digits should precede the letters?
b. there are no restrictions?
5. A vehicle arriving at an intersection can turn left, turn right or go
straight ahead. The experiment consists of observing the
movements of a car and a van at the intersection. Assume that
the car is equally likely to choose any of the three ways while the
van is twice as likely to go straight as turning left and turning right.
a. List the elements of the sample space.
b. Attach probabilities to the elements of the sample space.
c. Find the probability that at least one of the two vehicles turns.
6. From 52-card deck a 5-card hand is drawn. What is the
probability that there will be
a. exactly one king?
b. 3 aces and 2 queens?
c. 2 kings and 2 jacks?
7. A package of 6 light bulbs contain two defective bulbs. If three
bulbs are selected at random, find the probability that the number
of defectives in the sample is i, for i = 0, 1, 2.
8. Suppose A and B are two events such that P(AB) = 0.2, P(AB)
= 0.9. Find
a. P(A) + P(B)
b. ( ) P A B
c. Find the probability that neither A nor B will happen.
9. Show that
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) P A B C P A P B P C P AB P BC P AC P ABC = + + +
10. Of 100 microcomputers, 56 have circuit boards for a printer (P),
42 have circuit boards for a modem (M), and 48 have a graphics
card (G). 23 have both P and M, 22 have both M and G, and 35
have both P and G. If there are 15 computers with all the three,
then find the probability that a randomly chosen computer has
a. only P and G?
b. only P?
c. none of the three?
11. From 52-card deck a 5-card hand is drawn. What is the
probability that there will be
a. all of them are of same suit (+,+,v,+)?
b. at least two are same kind(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K,
A)?
c. all are numbers and are consecutive?
12. Decide whether the sets A and B (and their complements) in the
following Venn Diagrams are
a. disjoint
b. independent
(i) (ii)
MA2110/2111
EXERCISE SHEET 3
1. Based on the Venn diagram above, decide whether the following pairs of events are
i. disjoint
ii. independent
(a) A and B (b) A and C (c) A and B
c
(d) B and B
c
(e) B and C (f) B and C
c
.
2.
For the above parallel system find the probability that
(a) the system works
(b) the system works given that the first component does not work
(c) the system does not work given that the first component does not work.
(d) Do you notice any relationship between (b) and (c)?
3. A box has 3 red balls and 2 white balls. Two balls are chosen from the box one after the other without
replacement. Find the probability that
(a) the first ball is red
(b) the second ball is red given the first ball is white
(c) the second ball is white
(d) the first ball is white given the second ball is white.
4. Repeat Question 3 with the changed assumption that the balls are drawn with replacement.
5. The distribution of a discrete random variable X is given below except for one missing probability:
X -1 0 1 2 3 4
P(X = x) .2 .3 .1 .1 .05
Find
(i) P(X = 0) (ii) P(X 1) (iii) E(X)
(iv) E(X
2
) (v) S.D.(X)
6. A factory has three machines, A, B and C, which produce bolts. The percentages of defective bolts
produced by these machines are 2%, 5% and 10% respectively. Of all bolts produced by the factory, 60%
are produced by A, 25% by B and 15% by C. A bolt is randomly chosen and checked for defects.
(i) Draw a probability tree for this experiment.
(ii) Find the probability that the bolt is defective.
(iii) Find the probability that it is not produced by A and is defective.
(iv) If the chosen bolt is defective, which machine is it most likely to have come from? Which machine
is least likely? Justify your answer.
7. A box has 5 white balls, 6 black balls and 4 red balls. Two balls are successively drawn randomly without
replacement and its colour is noted.
(i) Draw a probability tree for this experiment.
(ii) Find the probability that the first ball is not red.
(iii) Find the probability the second ball is white.
(iv) If the first ball is white, find the probability that the second ball is red.
(v) If the second ball is black, find the probability that the first ball is red.
8. Let A and B be two independent events.
(i) Prove that
A
and
B
are independent.
(ii) If P(A) = 0.4 and P(A B) = 0.55, find P(B).
9. An experiment has 0.4 probability of success. This experiment was independently repeated 20 times. Let X
be the number of successes.
(i) State the name of the distribution of X specifying the parameters.
(ii) Find E(X) and Var(X).
(iii) Find P(X 9).
10. The distribution of a discrete random variable X is given below:
X -4 0 4 6 10
P(X = x) .3 .3 .1 .1
Find
(i) P(X = 0) (ii) P(|X| = 4) (iii) E(X)
(iv) Var(X) (v) Var(3 - 2X)
11. A box contains 3 red balls and 2 white balls. A sample of size 20 is taken from this box with replacement
and the number of red balls X in the sample is noted.
(i) State the name of the distribution of X specifying the parameters.
(ii) Find E(X) and Var(X).
(iii) Find P(X > 10).
12. In a game of dice the player wins if a sum of seven comes up when a pair of dice is rolled. Suppose this was
repeated 10 times. Compute the approximate probability that the number of wins is
(i) at most 5 (ii) exactly 3 (iii) between 2 and 4, inclusive.
13. From a 52-card standard deck of cards, a hand of 5 cards is dealt. Let X be the number of aces in the hand.
Write down the distribution of the X in the form of a table and compute the expectation of X.
MA2110/2111
EXERCISE SHEET 4
1. A random variable X has the following distribution:
X -2 0 1 2
P(X = x) 1/8 3/8 3/8 1/8
Find
(a) E(X)
(b) E(X
2
)
(c) S.D.(X)
(d) P(X
2
= 4)
(e) the CDF of X.
2. A production process is known to be producing an overall proportion of defective
items of 0.1. Consider the following random variables:
X: the number of items needed to be inspected in order to find a defective item.
Y: the number of items needed to be inspected in order to find three defective items.
Z: the number of defective items found in a sample of 10 items taken at random from
the production.
(a) Name the probability distributions appropriate for each random variable.(Note:
You should indicate the parameters.)
(b) Find
i. P(X = 2)
ii. P(X > 2)
iii. P(Y = 3)
iv. P(Z = 2)
v. P(Z 2)
vi. Expectation and variance of Z.
vii. Expectation variance of 2Z - 3.
3. A research project needs 2 brown haired persons. The researcher selects a person from
the social security list at random and checks if the person has brown hair. He
continues this until 2 people with brown hair are found. Assume that the proportion
of brown haired people is 0.1.
(a) Find the probability that the number of trials needed is
(i) at least 4.
(ii) exactly 5.
(b) What are the expectation and variance of the number of trials needed?
4. The arrival rate of a kind of migrating birds is 840 a week. Let X be the number of
birds arriving in a given hour. Assuming a Poisson model for the migration, find
(a) P(X ) where = E(X).
(b) V(X)
(c) Find E(X
2
+ 3X +4)
(d) Show that E(2X
2
- 14X +10) = 0.
5. Suppose a final year Mathematics class has 5 boys and 7 girls. A random sample of 3
students is drawn and X represents the number of girls in the sample.
(a) Name the distribution of X.
(b) Find P(X = 2).
(c) Find P(X = 0).
(d) Find the expectation and variance of X.
6. Repeat the previous question with sample size changed to 6.
7. A pair of dice is rolled until a sum of 8 turns up and let X be the number of rolls
required.
(a) Name the distribution of X.
(b) Find P(X = 2).
(c) Find P(X 5).
(d) Find the expectation and variance of X.
8. The number X of defects on a pane of glass is believed to follow a Poisson
distribution with a mean of 3 (defects per pane of glass).
(a) Find P(X = 3)
An improvement in the production process of the panes of glass is believed to have
resulted in reduced number of defects per pane of glass. The number of defects
observed in a sample of twenty panes of glass, each of area 4 square meters, was 50.
Estimate, for this improved production:
(b) the mean number of defects per pane of glass.
(c) the mean number of defects per square meter of glass.
(d) the probability of finding exactly one defect in a pane of glass.
(e) the probability of finding at least one defect in two panes of glass examined.
(f) the standard deviation of the number of defects per square meter.
9. A company producing tennis racquets found that 3% of the racquets they produce are
defective. The racquets are sent to shops in boxes of 10 and the shops send back
boxes with more than one defective racquet. If a box is chosen at random and opened,
what is the probability that
(i) it is sent back?
(ii) all the racquets in the box are non-defective?
For the number of defectives in the box, what is the
(iii) expected value?
(iv) standard deviation?
MA2110/2111
EXERCISE SHEET 5

1.
a. If X has gamma distribution with parameters and , then show that for any
non-negative integer k,
( )
( )
( )
k
k
k
E X


+
=

.
b. Suppose = = 2 and let Y = X
2
+ 3. Using the formula above, find
expectation and variance of Y.
c. Use Chebyshev's Inequality to find an interval where Y will lie with
probability at least .


2. Let X be exponentially distributed with mean 3.
a. Write down the density function of X.
b. What is the standard deviation of X?
c. Compute the probability that X exceeds 4.


3. Let the density function of a random variable X be given by
( ) ( )
2
1 0 1
0
X
f x kx x for x
otherwise
=
=

a. Find k.
b. Find E(X)
c. Find Var(X)
d. Does this probability density have a well-known name?
e. If Y = 3X + 2, find the density function of Y.


4. Let X be exponentially distributed with mean .
a. Show that P(X ) does not depend on . Also explicitly compute this value.
b. Find the median of X. (Median is the value M such that P(X M) = 0.5.)


5. The commission a real estate agent gets per month, in units of $1000, can be thought
of as a random variable X with density function given by
( ) ( )
f x x x x
elsewhere
X
=
=
6 1 0 1
0

a.
(i) Verify that f is a density function.
(ii) Compute the distribution function F.
(iii) What is the average commission of the agent
(1) per month?
(2) per year?
(iv) Compute the variance of X.
(v) Find the probability that in a given month the commission
exceeds $700.

b. Suppose that due to tax and other reasons, the amount the agent gets for
himself is Y = (0.8)X 0.1 in units of $1000.
(i) Find the density of Y
(ii) Hence or otherwise, find the expectation of Y.


6. The following is a Gamma density function with parameters and .
( )
f x cxe x
elsewhere
x
=
=
5
0
0

(i) Find the value of the parameters and .
(ii) Find c.
(iii) Compute P(X < 1) (Hint: Use integration by parts)


7. Assume that X has normal distribution with mean 2 and variance 4. Find
a. P(X 4)
b. P(X < -1)
c. P(0 < X < 3)
d. the interval around the mean where X will lie with probability 0.9.


8. If the height of men in an Asian country is normally distributed with unknown mean
and standard deviation, what is the probability that the height of a randomly chosen
man falls within 1.5 standard deviations of the mean?


9. The amount of soup in the 200ml cans is normally distributed with mean 205ml and
standard deviation 10ml.
a. For a randomly selected can of soup, find the probability that the amount of
soup in it falls below the claimed 200ml.
b. For a randomly selected can of soup, find the probability that the amount of
soup in it falls between 190ml and 210ml.
c. For a randomly selected can of soup, what is the probability that the amount of
soup in it is exactly 200ml?

MA2110/2111
EXERCISE SHEET 6
1. A student attempts 48 true-false questions in a test. For each question,
independently, he has probability of answering correctly.
a. Use the appropriate approximation to find the probability that he answers at
least 40 questions correctly.
b. The marking scheme is to give one mark for a correct answer and subtract off
one mark for a wrong answer. Let Y be the score according to this scheme.
Find the expectation and variance of Y.
2. The net weight of a 100 gram can of tuna fish is normally distributed with mean
105 grams and standard deviation 3 grams.
a. What proportion of all 100 gram cans will actually have net weight 100 grams
or more?
b. If 5 cans are selected at random, what is the probability that
i. at least one of them will have net weight less than 100 grams?
ii. the average net weight is less than 100 grams?
c. What should the mean be changed to if the manufacturers wanted the
proportion of cans that weigh 100 grams or more to be 0.95?
3. The probability that a person chosen at random has a particular disease called X-
syndrome is .001. A sample of 2000 people is chosen and Y is the number of
people having X-syndrome. Use a suitable approximation to find
a. (a) P(Y = 2)
b. (b) P(Y s 3)
c. (c) P(Y > 1)
4. Let U be normally distributed with mean and standard deviation o.
a. Find the probability that U is within k standard deviations of its mean for k = 1
and 2.
b. Use Chebyshev's Inequality to find a lower bound for the probability that U is
within k standard deviations of its mean for k = 1 and 2. Does this contradict
the result from 1?
5. A company producing tennis racquets found that 3% of the racquets they produce
are defective. The racquets are sent to shops in boxes of 10 and the shops send
back boxes with more than one defective racquet. Suppose a truck load contains
100 racquets. Use a suitable approximation to find the probability that among the
100 there are
a. exactly 2 defectives.
b. no more than 5 defectives.
6. A random sample of size 36 was drawn from a normal population with mean 2
and variance 25.
a. What is the mean of the sample mean x ?
b. What is the variance of x ?
c. State the distribution of x .
d. What happens to the answer to (c) if the normality assumption is removed?
7. A sample of size 16 was drawn from a normal population with mean and
standard deviation o = 2.5. If the sample mean is 3.6, construct a 99% confidence
interval for .
8. The diameter of the ball used for a particular sport should be 5 cm. A sample of
size 20 was taken and diameters are measured. The sample mean was found to be
4.9 cm. The standard deviation was known to be 0.25. Set up the null and
alternative hypothesis and test whether the data provide sufficient evidence to
suggest that the mean diameter is not 5 cm.
9. Results published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1988 give the
haemoglobin level for a sample of seven heart-lung transplant patients as:
10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 11.8, 13.4, 10.2, 11.3
a. Give a 99% confidence interval for mean haemoglobin level for all such
patients.
b. What assumption are you making about the distribution of haemoglobin levels
in order for the above confidence level to be valid?
10. In 1988 The Wall Street Journal reported that the average salary of physicians was
$115440. To test this claim a random sample of 100 physicians was surveyed.
This sample had a mean of $113650 and a standard deviation of $10000. Do these
results support the claim stated in the journal?
11. Let X have normal distribution with mean 0 and standard deviation o. Write down
the MGF for X, write it as an infinite series and hence find a formula for the k
th
raw moment of X.
12.
a. Show that the MGF of a beta(2, 2) random variable is given
by ( )
( )
3
6 2 2
t
t e t
M t
t
( + +

= . (Hint: Use integration by parts.)
b. Show that M(0) = 1 in the sense that ( )
0
lim 1
t
M t

= .(Hint: Use LHopitals

rule.)
c. Find the mean by computing M'(0).
13. The MGF of a discrete random variable X is given by ( )
2 3
1 1 1 1
4 4 6 3
t t t
M t e e e = + + + .
Find the first three raw moments of X.
MA2110/2111
EXERCISE SHEET 7
1. It is thought that 40% of the adult population are coffee drinkers. A random sample of
size 240 contained 80 coffee drinkers.
a. Test the hypothesis that 40% of the adult population are coffee drinkers against
the one-sided alternative that the proportion is less than 40%. Use a 5% level of
significance. What is the p-vlue?
b. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of coffee drinkers among
adults.
c. How many people must be questioned if we are to obtain an estimate of the
proportion of coffee drinkers which we can be 95% sure is within 2% of the true
value?
2. A states Department of Juvenile Corrections believes that less than 20% of offenders
admitted to its training schools have been convicted of car theft. Scrutiny of a random
sample of 125 admission records reveals that 19 of them were for car theft.
a. Do these figures lend support to the Departments belief? Use a 5% level of
significance. State the p-value.
b. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of car thieves among the
offenders admitted to the training schools.
3. Observation of a small number of patients, randomly selected from those waiting for
treatment in the casualty room of a busy hospital, showed the standard deviation of
waiting time to be 16.4 min. How many such patients progress through the system
must be monitored in order to estimate, with 95% confidence, the true average
waiting time to within 5 min of the real value?
4. As a pollution control measure, a coal fired power station incorporates a scrubber in
its smoke stack. The environmental protection statute stipulates that the average
sulphur dioxide emission is not to exceed 60gm per megajoule, and that the standard
deviation is to be no greater than 20mg/Mj. An environmental Protection Officer took
discharge specimens from the smoke stack at various times on 15 randomly chosen
days. The 15 specimens were subjected to careful laboratory analysis to determine
their SO
2
content, and it was found that the sample average was 69mg/Mj with a
standard deviation of 33gm/Mj. Decide if these figures justify the claim that the
power station is in breach of the limitation on average level of SO
2
emission. Find the
p-value.
5. Results published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1988 give the
haemoglobin level for a sample of seven heart-lung transplant patients as:
10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 11.8, 13.4, 10.2, 11.3
Assuming normality, test the hypothesis that for mean haemoglobin level is 11 against a
two-sided alternative. Calculate the p-value.
6. .Calculate p-values for Questions 8 and 10 of Exercise Sheet 6.